Morgan Hill – Really, it’s not so funny.
But no one got hurt – and there was fizzy soda all over the road!
It happened several years ago. A truck driver in south San Jose got stuck when he pushed his big rig over a hump in the road.
Unfortunately, the “hump” was the railroad crossing at Laguna Avenue near Monterey Road. When the train came, well, things sort of got shaken up.
The story of the not-so-little-7-Up-truck-that-couldn’t isn’t so uncommon. Big trucks have gotten stuck up and down Monterey Highway at several old crossings, said Morgan Hill Public Works Director Jim Ashcraft.
Usually, the rigs are sprung free before disaster strikes, he said. And, thank goodness for that.
But Morgan Hill city officials are tired of taking chances at the steep crossing at Tilton Avenue, where the train tracks are much higher than Monterey Road. The distance between the tracks and the intersection is so short that a harsh slope is unavoidable.
To fix the problem, a safety improvement plan worth $137,000 was approved by the Morgan Hill City Council on Wednesday, to make the crossing workable for cars and trucks of all shapes and sizes.
The plan is to raise the west side of Monterey Road on a 500-foot stretch by Tilton Avenue, eliminating grade differentials. The work will also include reconfiguring traffic lanes to city standards, installing new railroad crossing arms, relocating utility poles and upgrading the Union Pacific Rail Road signal warning system, among other things.
The new crossing is expected to be completed in August 2007. Meanwhile, design and environmental studies are now getting under way.
City officials picked Gilroy-based HMH Engineers for the job, citing in a report the company’s recent coordination and familiarity with Union Pacific and the California Public Utilities Commission for regulatory permitting.
In addition, HMH Engineers has the in-house capabilities to perform most of the work, city officials say. A sub-consultant, Fehr & Peers Associates, has been retained to provide a traffic analysis for the project.
Tony Burchyns covers Morgan Hill for The Times. Reach him at (408) 779-4106 ext. 201 or tb*******@*************es.com.
