St. Joseph County officials are considering buying what could be the first property needed to build a railroad overpass at Ash Road.
The county in January announced it won a $1 million federal grant to study five railroad 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, bringing some 100 trains a day running parallel to a busy highway.
The two-acre lot on the intersection’s northwest corner was recently listed for sale. On Tuesday county commissioners will vote on whether to buy it for $604,000. They would demolish a vacant commercial building there.
The overpass project has not yet received federal funding. County Economic Development Director Bill Schalliol says if the project doesn’t end up happening or its placed elsewhere, the county will add the property to the adjacent Baugo Creek County Park.
If the overpass is built, Schalliol says the county hopes the project design will allow the gas station on the opposite corner to remain.
