The N.C. Department of Transportation says it plans to close a busy but dangerous railroad crossing near Meredith College and divert traffic to a less-used one nearby.
NCDOT wants to close the Beryl Road crossing where the road meets Hillsborough Street at the Waffle House. It would extend Beryl Road about 500 feet to Royal Street, where drivers could cross the railroad to and from Hillsborough.
Beryl crosses the tracks at an angle about two car lengths from the Hillsborough Street traffic light. People who aren’t paying attention can find themselves in the path of a train, as when two drivers jumped out of their cars just before they were hit by Amtrak’s Piedmont in May 2024, said Brian Gackstetter, an engineer with NCDOT’s Rail Division…