CRAMERTON, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Improvements are coming to a “one-of-a-kind” Gaston County intersection.
The underpass on Eighth Avenue across from Cramerton Town Hall is open to two-way traffic, but it’s not wide enough to fit two cars going in opposite directions.
Drivers depend on an unspoken honor system of sorts to pass underneath the railroad tracks.
“Everybody kind of has an understanding that you go to the side, wait for the car from the other side to come through, and then it’s your turn,” said Justin Hornback, who lives in Dallas.
Greg Smith lives in Gastonia, and he says he drives through the underpass a few times a week.
“There’s no good system, so people are like, ‘We’ll go one at a time,’ but then those guys will go like three at a time, and you can’t do anything,” Smith said. “You have to sit there and let them go, otherwise there’s a crash.”
The one-by-one “you go, I go” routine can create long backups at certain times of day.
Cramerton Mayor Nelson Wills says box trucks frequently get stuck too, either because they’re too tall or too wide.
Wills is hoping to make the traffic flow more efficient, and he says the town’s secured $250,000 from the state to do it.
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“We’re talking to NCDOT about a signalization system,” Wills said. “Something that is dynamic. Different times of the day when it backs up on one side, it’ll be green for a longer period of time.”
It could be years until the signals are installed, but town officials are hoping it’s sooner.
They say Norfolk Southern, which operates the railroad that goes over the bridge, is on board because the company would like to see fewer trucks crashing into the structure.
“A light would be great,” Greg Smith said. “It would really speed things up.”
Wills says widening the 108-year-old underpass isn’t an option, because it would lose its structural integrity, and rebuilding would be extremely cost-prohibitive.
“We’re going to make the best of it with the funding that’s been secured,” he said. “Protect it, preserve it, and move more efficiently through it.”