MLK Jr. Underpass Now Open To Traffic

It's open and traffic is moving through the new Martin Luther King Jr. underpass after a ribbon cutting ceremony was held Wednesday. City Engineer Bret Shefield says $10.6 million dollar project will allow traffic to flow rather than being stopped at the railroad tracks as trains pass. "Right now about 5 or 6 trains pass by every day. But officials with Burlington Northern Santa

Fe say we could soon see 10 to 12 trains a day."
Shefield says there's also a host of other benefits to the underpass including helping the environment. He says by allowing traffic to flow there's no buildup of pollutants when cars stop at the railroad tracks. Fruit trucks no longer have to drive over tracks that can bruise fruit.  And he says one of the most important benefits is that emergency vehicles will now be able to drive through the underpass when an emergency is happening on the other side of the railroad tracks in that area.