The Department of Transportation is considering closing some railroad crossings in Tangipahoa Parish after a wreck between a train and a car took the lives of an Independence couple last week.

WWL-TV

The Amtrak train basically cut the vehicle in half.

The DOTD said it has identified six crossings that are potentially dangerous, all of which are on the Amtrak line along Highway 51. Those crossings have railroad crossing signs and stop signs but no gates. The DOTD says that the six crossings could be given gates or closed, likely some of the crossings falling into each category.

“We have to try to do everything that we can to make (the crossings) as safe as we can,” said Trey Jesclard of the DOTD.

There are some crossings with gates in Tangipahoa that are considered safe. If the DOTD closes some of the unsafe crossings, motorists would have to ride as much as a half mile out of their way to safely cross the railroad lines.

It would be an inconvenience to many, and Parish President Gordon Burgess says the populace in Tangipahoa takes inconveniences seriously.

“If we discuss, in a public meeting, just one crossing, we fill up this room,” he said, explaining the passions of the electorate.

Burgess said if it were up to him, he would put gates at all the crossings, but that would cost about $150,000 each.

“If we could gate some of those, it would relieve some of the concern, the fear that these folks have of having to go the extra mile to get to an ambulance or hospital or police department or whatever,” he said.

The DOTD says that without gates, some of the six crossings will probably need to close for safety reasons.

“We feel that those are redundant crossings,” said Jesclard. “(They are) possibly crossings of convenience and we’d rather not have people killed on those crossings.”