Southern Pacific Railroad officials are considering whether to increase safety measures at an Orem railroad crossing where six people have died in little more than a year.
Orem Mayor Stella Walsh has urged the Utah Department of Transportation to add crossing gates and warning lights. And she and the City Council also wrote a letter to Southern Pacific, which owns one of the sets of tracks passing through the intersection.Welsh's requests were spurred by the Oct. 11 accident in which Bart Bigler, a 19-year-old Orem resident, was killed when his car was broadsided by an Amtrak train at the crossing.
Residents in the area have long complained that the lack of crossing gates, combined with poor visibility, make the area dangerous.
"The rail crossings in this area have been the site of far too many train-auto accidents. The funds are budgeted, the plans are complete and all that is needed is to complete the project," Welsh said in her statement at a UDOT meeting.