LUMBERTON — Weeks of detours in Lumberton ended Friday with the reopening of the Main Avenue railroad crossing, following a repair project city leaders say was designed to fix long-standing problems rather than repeat temporary patchwork. 

The closure was part of an effort to address repeated damage at the crossing, which Lumberton Mayor James Sandifer said was not caused by routine wear — but by heavy equipment moving through the area. 

“We have large, wide loads that come through and lowboys that come through with heavy equipment,” Sandifer said.

Those trailers rely on hydraulics to lift their loads when crossing railroad tracks, but Sandifer said uneven rail and asphalt created ongoing problems. 

“When they go to jack the trailer up, sometimes the way the railroad was, the way the asphalt was, they don’t jack it up enough,” he said. “They hit the concrete, hit the asphalt, bend the rail.” 

Sandifer said that damage triggered emergency repairs that were never intended to be long-term solutions. 

“They have to send the emergency crew in to keep fixing it,” he said. “That crew is just built to patch it, so once it gets bad, it’s just patching.” 

Crews replace damaged crossing after years of quick fixes 

This time, he said the work involved a complete overhaul of both the tracks and the surrounding asphalt. Railroad crews extended the asphalt farther into the intersection to reduce the angle and make it easier for trucks to cross. 

“This job they just did was a total replacement of the tracks, total replacement of all the asphalt,” Sandifer said. “It’s a learning process for all of us. This has never happened before, to this degree, when I was in office.” 

To prevent future damage, Sandifer said the city is coordinating with the Mississippi Department of Transportation to steer heavy equipment away from Lumberton’s railroad crossing on Main Avenue, removing it as a preferred route for trucks headed to the highway. 

For residents, the repairs follow years of recurring issues. 

Leanna Dreher said she crosses the tracks frequently and has filed complaints with the railroad company in the past when repairs were needed. She said previous fixes only provided short-term relief. 

“They actually sent someone out and they fixed it,” she said. “That repair didn’t last very long. It wasn’t a great repair, but it made things a lot better.” 

She said the condition of the crossing worsened over time. 

“It was terrible,” Dreher said. “It had big chunks of rock and everything that you were hitting with your tires when you were trying to drive over it.” 

Unexpected closures cause confusion 

While Dreher said she supports the repairs, she described the most recent closure as confusing and, at times, unsafe. 

“All of a sudden, they closed — there’s three crossings here in Lumberton — and they closed all three of them,” she said. “That meant that the east side of Lumberton was completely cut off from the west side of Lumberton.” 

Sandifer said the railroad company notified the city that repairs were coming, but a miscommunication resulted in all three crossings being closed at the same time. 

“Even the guy I was coordinating with didn’t realize all three of them were closed at the same time, and once I told him, ‘Hey, this has to happen,’ it happened,” he said.

The city worked with the railroad company and MDOT to reopen crossings quickly, limiting impacts on businesses and traffic. 

“Yes, the railroad track — we don’t own it. We have no jurisdiction on what they do,” Sandifer said. “So yeah, they have to coordinate with us, but at the end of the day, it’s their property.” 

Detour signage also frustrated some residents. Dreher said the signs were unclear and difficult to follow. Sandifer said MDOT determines detour routes during railroad crossing closures and placed signage outside city limits based on state restrictions. 

Large trucks are a regular presence in Lumberton, particularly log trucks traveling to Idaho Forest Group, which Sandifer said is the city’s largest employer. 

“There’s certain areas that, within our ordinance, log trucks cannot go through the neighborhoods,” he said, explaining why some detours were longer routes. 

Residents support repairs, seek better communication 

Dreher said she hopes lessons from this project lead to better communication in the future. 

“We want the railroad tracks to be fixed. We appreciate the fact that they’re doing it and apparently, they’re doing a very good job and we’re happy about that,” she said. “We just want better communication.” 

Sandifer encouraged residents to contact city officials directly when questions arise and not rely on unofficial sources or social media. 

“I just ask for flexibility within the citizens when we get into a project like this, as significant as it is,” he said. “Because of what the railroad brings to this town, we just have to be flexible sometimes.” 

Another repair project is scheduled to begin this week. City officials said updates, including detour information, will be posted on the city’s official Facebook page.