Commuters along U.S. Highway 550 through Hermosa north of Durango might notice flaggers where the highway and the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad tracks intersect just north of Hermosa Depot.
Flaggers aren’t out there for their own health, but instead for public safety after a vehicle crashed into the signal box that controls the automated crossing bars, said Jeff Johnson, D&SNG general manager.
The crash occurred at 1:05 a.m. Nov. 19 when a single vehicle traveling south on Highway 550 veered off the road just north of the crossing stanchion. The vehicle clipped the stanchion with its driver’s side and struck the signal box with its passenger side, effectively destroying the box, he said. The vehicle continued and turned over at least once before coming to rest.
“It was quite a journey,” he said.
He said he doesn’t know of any injuries as a result of the crash, which he understands to be a case of the driver falling asleep at the wheel.
“When they hit the signal box, it defaulted the system to send the gates down, which was a fail safe – which is good, means the system was working – but they were sitting there, stuck down,” he said of the crossing bars.
The crossing bars had to be removed, he added.
The signal box and other damages will cost the railroad an estimated $60,000 to $80,000 to purchase a new system, he said.
D&SNG has contacted a company that specializes in signal systems.
“I hope they will be out here next week so we can get it wrapped up in time. We have to go out there and manually flag the crossing ourselves until we get the signal system working,” Johnson said.
He said the Colorado Department of Transportation installed signs near the railroad crossing warning commuters that flaggers are ahead. Johnson said he appreciates that because traffic often travels the highway at 60 mph.
“It's worked out OK,” he said. “We're going to continue to (flag the crossing) every day until our signal system is in place. I don't have an exact deadline on when that will be.”
cburney@durangoherald.com
