UPDATE: Center Street and Main Street crossings are now open. The crossing at Market Street will be closed the night of Wednesday, July 30.

While Norfolk Southern announced it would need only 3-4 days last week to complete infrastructure repairs to two main crossings in downtown Warsaw, the work is still not completed today, and it is causing major headaches for motorists.

Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer told StaceyPageOnline.com late yesterday that, while an inconvenience, the railroad agreed to work with the city to simultaneously complete other work that needed to be done. That included some stormwater line repairs along the tracks on Hickory Street.

Thallemer said that the railroad allowing the city to complete that work at the same time saved money and the need for an additional closing. With the work now finalized, the paving is expected to be completed today – weather permitting – and could possibly have the crossings re-opened by late this evening. “But, it’s probably safer to say it will be Thursday,” he added.

Meanwhile, traffic needing to get from one side of town to the other is largely utilizing Market Street and, at times, that has caused significant traffic back ups. The approved detour while the work is being completed is at Winona Avenue.

Thallemer also noted that when the Center Street and Main Street railroad crossings are repaired, Norfolk Southern Railroad will immediately move to the Market Street crossing for the same infrastructure repair work. The Market Street crossing will then be closed for what should be just 1 to 2 days dependent on weather conditions.

The road surface along the railroad tracks will be fully removed from curb to curb, so during the time of the work, there will continue to be no on-street parking along Hickory Street.

The NFS crews will be back out later this year or early next year to complete additional work on the crossings that will once again result in closings. The city petitioned for crossing arms to be installed at Market, Winona and Pope Street crossings and those are being scheduled to be installed.