{"id":14676,"date":"2022-08-18T13:48:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-18T17:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/?post_type=press-releases&#038;p=14676"},"modified":"2022-08-18T14:49:44","modified_gmt":"2022-08-18T18:49:44","slug":"sen-ossoff-working-to-solve-hours-long-traffic-delays-at-railroad-crossings-across-georgia","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoff-working-to-solve-hours-long-traffic-delays-at-railroad-crossings-across-georgia\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Ossoff Working to Solve Hours-Long Traffic Delays at Railroad Crossings Across Georgia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Cities across Georgia submit evidence of trains parking on crossings, causing hours-long traffic delays &amp; dangerous pedestrian encounters<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Atlanta, Ga.<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is working to solve traffic challenges at railroad crossings across Georgia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, Sen. Ossoff&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/22.08.18_Block-Rail-Crossings-Letter.pdf\">launched an inquiry<\/a>&nbsp;with the Federal Railroad Administration as part of the Agency\u2019s ongoing investigation into trains causing traffic delays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As part of his inquiry, Sen. Ossoff is submitting testimonials from cities, counties, and constituents across the state encountering blocked railroad crossings, harming residents\u2019 abilities to work, school, the grocery store, doctor\u2019s offices, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen freight trains block one or more major roads in our cities and towns it can also become a public safety issue. First responders are delayed in responding to calls for emergency medical assistance, fires, or cases of violence that need police intervention,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>Sen. Ossoff wrote<\/strong>. \u201cDivided communities regularly deal with missed doctor\u2019s appointments, school tardiness, and the daily frustration of a 15-minute trip to the grocery store turning into an hour-long event.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe train in Juliette is more than just something we think about or watch pass through. It significantly impacts the day-to-day life of the residents here and our neighbors in Jones County,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>Juliette resident Andrea Goolsby wrote.<\/strong>\u201cIt has been an issue for many years but seems to be happening way more frequently, where the train just stops blocking traffic for hours on end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLast Friday, the train pulled through downtown and blocked two separate crossings that span approximately 5 city blocks. It started at 2:40, and when I left for the day at 4:54, it was still there,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>Griffin City Manager Jessica O\u2019Conner wrote.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe citizens of Henry County, Georgia experience almost daily delays due to trains blocking our roads for extended periods of time at critical junctures in our community,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>Henry County Chair Carlotta Harrell wrote.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor the last five years, blockages have been for more than two hours,\u201d a<strong>ttorneys for the city of Garden City added.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/22.08.18_Block-Rail-Crossings-Letter.pdf\">Click here<\/a>&nbsp;to read Sen. Ossoff\u2019s inquiry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"># # #<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cities across Georgia submit evidence of trains parking on crossings, causing hours-long traffic delays &amp; dangerous pedestrian encounters Atlanta, Ga.&nbsp;\u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is working to solve traffic challenges at railroad crossings across Georgia. Today, Sen. Ossoff&nbsp;launched an inquiry&nbsp;with the Federal Railroad Administration as part of the Agency\u2019s ongoing investigation into trains causing traffic [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14676","press-releases","type-press-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/14676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/14676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14678,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/14676\/revisions\/14678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}