Traffic changes are proposed

Three months after an accident claimed the lives of four members of a Greenville family, proposals have been presented to improve traffic safety at Vandalia rail crossings.

The options that have been presented to city officials include closing three blocks of Main Street to traffic and reducing traffic flow to one direction on both Fifth and Sixth streets.
Representatives of the state and federal commerce departments, along with officials from CSX Railroad and the Illinois Department of Transportation are scheduled to be on hand for a Vandalia City Council work session next Monday.
The 5:30 p.m. work session, according to Mayor Rick Gottman, is being held to present various proposals to the full council, and to get public input on them.
“It will be to get public input … on rail safety and transportation,” Gottman said.
Gottman scheduled the work session, which is open to the public, after meeting with about 20 people from various entities, including the three scheduled to be present on Monday.
The mayor said that in one proposal, Main Street would be shut down to traffic between Fifth and Eighth streets, with the road surface being replaced with grass.
Another proposal calls for one-way traffic southbound on Fifth Street between Gallatin and Randolph streets, and one-way traffic northbound on Sixth Street in those three blocks.
Gottman said that business and property owners in those downtown areas have been sent letters informing them of Monday’s meeting, “because they are personally impacted.”
The proposals were drafted after a train-car accident at the Sixth Street crossing a short time before the start of the Vandalia Lions Club Halloween parade on Gallatin Street on Oct. 30.
Crystal Anna and three of her children – 10-year-old Abby Wisnasky, 13-year-old Drake Wisnasky and 18-year-old Alyssa Sewell – sustained fatal injuries when an SUV driven by Anna was struck by an eastbound train as it crossed the tracks.
Gottman said that that accident, as well as others at the Fifth and Sixth street crossings, have been considered by the officials of the various transportation agencies as they drafted the proposals that will be presented on Monday night.
 

A memorial erected after four members of a Greenville family died from a car-train accident at the Sixth Street crossing in downtown Vandalia remains in place today.