The partnership for progress is making good progress towards keeping traffic moving around Greenville’s trains. The City of Greenville teamed up with CSXT, Carolina Coastal, Norfolk Southern, and the North Carolina Department of Transportation to make changes which are making a difference in the length of traffic delays caused by trains.

The first step came in 2009 with the construction of a spur across 14^th Street which allows trains from the east to turn north directly. Prior to that spur, trains would have to turn south (often blocking Arlington Boulevard), move the engine to the other end of the train, then proceed to the north.

City Engineer Scott Godefroy said, “The construction of the spur is a great first step. It has reduced the number and duration of delays, and there is more relief to come.”

Construction of a switching yard north of the city is expected to be completed in late Spring. When finished, most rail switching activities will take place there; however, some smaller trains may still switch at the location between 10^th and 14^th Streets.

“We hope everyone will continue to be patient,” said Godefroy. “When you’re working on a transportation project that is so important and will have such a lasting, positive impact on the community, you want to make sure everything is just right so that we can get the best results. We will still have trains coming through town to serve businesses which rely on them, but they’re not going to hold up traffic as much as they have in the past.”

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