If you drive through Osceola or the Jimtown area often, you’ve probably been stuck waiting for a train. St. Joseph County officials today announced they’ll study whether to build a rail overpass at Ash Road and Lincolnway.
The county says it’s won a $1 million federal grant to study five rail crossings in the Osceola-Elkhart area. That includes whether an overpass can be built that would carry traffic on Ash Road, or County Line Road, over both the railroad tracks and Lincolnway.
Nearby sits Norfolk-Southern’s second-busiest rail yard in the country, located between Chicago and Cleveland, bringing some 100 trains a day running parallel to a busy highway.
Stacy Reeves has been begging local, state and federal officials to address the crossings since 2018 when her 23-year-old son Franky was killed at the Ash Road crossing.
Reeves says all five crossings were blocked early that September morning as Franky needed to get to work. After waiting for a slower train to pass, police at the time told The South Bend Tribune that he had driven around the crossing arms. He was hit by a train coming fast from the opposite direction.
Reeves said Thursday she was feeling bittersweet about the news.
"Yesterday I was just like ecstatic about everything that is going to be happening," Reeves said. "Today I've had two meltdowns because of that fact that my son had to die for these things to happen."
