Kinston's roads will stay open during construction of Spirit rail extension

No Kinston roads will be closed due to the construction of the rail system that will help supply Spirit AeroSystems with the materials it needs to operate.

Kinston leaders met with representatives from the Department of Transportation Rail Division on Thursday to discuss the latest plans for the train tracks, which will allow a projected three or four trains per month to carry large fuselage sections and wing spars out of the park at speeds between 10 and 25 miles per hour. The city of Kinston asked the DOT to spearhead the project - and wants it up and running when Spirit is here in early 2010.

In September, the DOT presented the city with three routes inside a corridor area that includes Barnet Park and the Hillcrest neighborhood, plus many residential communities along Dobbs Farm and Airport roads. Kinston residents and officials voiced concerns over roads the spur crossed - including Hillcrest and Sand Clay roads - being closed.

Rail Environmental Planning Engineer for the DOT Marc Hamel told those at Thursday's meeting no roads would close, though he said residents who lived on the roads would enjoy safer, quieter and nicer neighborhoods without through traffic.

Rail Division Director Patrick Simmons agreed.

"Anytime you have different modes of transportation meeting at grades, you've got a risk," Simmons said. "We try to minimize that risk with what we've learned about improving crossing safety."

Crossing safety, Simmons said, is the issue that's first and foremost with the plan.

"Secondly, you protect (where roads and railroads cross) at a level that we've learned how to do," Simmons said. "Through barriers and other factors."

Crossings would include the latest safety technology at each crossing, many including reflector-covered medians in the middle of roadways before the tracks to discourage vehicles from driving through the warning arms - an effort Hamel referred to as "channeling" the traffic.

Simmons said safety was just one of the issues the DOT considers when deciding on a final route, which should happen after environmental assessment meeting in mid-November.

"One of the things we want folks to understand is that we did not sit in the office, sit down at the table and shut the door and draw a line," NC DOT Rail Division Director Patrick Simmons said. "It entered a process that we worked with pertaining agencies that did the field work ... within some of the constraints that we had.

"You can see some of that reflected in the sensitivity to the neighborhoods, the parks, wetlands - they're all in the mix as we develop an alternative."

Just one Kinston residence - near Dobbs Elementary - may have to be bought in order to make way for the rail project. Hamel said only residents whose property actually touches the rail line are ever considered for relocation and train-generated noise does not play a role in the decision.

The nearby Hillcrest subdivision would not be considered for any sort of compensation.

"The railroad's not touching Hillcrest," Hamel said. "So there's no claim."

Regardless, the advantages were a more popular topic than the disadvantages when it came to the railway - Spirit AeroSystems would have no way to move the goods it produced without it.

"You'd have a box you couldn't move," Simmons said of what would happen if there were no train tracks. "You can't put them on a truck and go down the highway.

"You'd get stuck under the first overpass."

Justin Schoenberger can be reached at (252) 559-1075 or jschoenberger@freedomenc.com.