Quote:
Originally Posted by Bear Islander
You misunderstand me. I am not in favor of the WOW trail.
It sounds like a great idea at first. However when you get into the details it stops making sense. The way I understand it the only way they will have enough room for the trail is to put it right next to the rails. Even with a slow moving train eventually someone will fall, or zig when they should zag, and there will be a horrible accident.
I can imagine this trail being VERY popular, much more so than similar trails that don't go along a beautiful lake. That means lots of people just inches from a vehicle that can't stop. Not a good idea in my opinion. The only answer is a fence between the tracks and the trail.
However a fence will be seriously ugly. And even if you could find a beautiful fence or an invisible fence.... What good is a fence that has a break every few feet?
In my opinion they are trying to do two mutually exclusive things at the same time. Isolate the trail from the tracks for safety reasons, AND provide hundreds of crossings to allow access. I just don't see how it can be done.
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When does the lunacy end?? This is PRECISELY what is wrong with this country today! We have to account for every possible idiot! No personal responsibility allowed! We need to stop dumbing down to the lowest common denominator! I need to stop now before I go on a huge rant!
Should we build the trail YES! Do we need a fence? NO!
The rail traffic on this line is seasonal and very light/very slow moving. It's not like we are discussing mile long freight trains every few hours. People have coexisted with the railroad (no fence) for long, long time, and to the best of my knowledge there have been ZIP, ZERO, NADA injuries! I see people walking right down the middle of the tracks all the time. So why the big deal now? If anything, a nice trail beside the tracks would be much safer!
You need to look at how railroad tracks are constructed. Railroads operate best when the tracks are level. When a railroad is constructed, they use large quantities of gravel to raise the level of the tracks 2' to 3' above the surrounding terrain, depending on terrain conditions. This accomplishes two things, level track height so the train will roll easily and proper drainage. For most of the proposed WOW trail, the railbed will be somewhat higher (approximately 2') than the WOW trail. You would physically have to fall up to the tracks to get struck by the train.
Woodsy