DINWIDDIE, Va. -- Imagine driving home from work, and as you get to a familiar railroad crossing, you see that it is closed for repairs.
No warning, no signs to detour, nothing.
This situation is occurring in Dinwiddie County, where some homeowners and drivers are not just concerned that they have to take a long detour, but also concerned about how fire trucks and ambulances would be able to access their homes in an emergency.
Jamie Van Cleef, who has traveled across the Baltimore Road crossing for the past 44 years, says his commute was interrupted by the shutdown roadway.
"Monday I left work to come home, like I always do around 5:00. Pull up to the trestle here and it’s closed. There’s no road there, can’t get across it.”
Van Cleef says there's usually signage at Route 460 and Baltimore Road, and in years past a temporary fix was always put into place.
"Put the gravel back like they've always done it, so we can cross it," Van Cleef said. "We don't care if it's rough, just one so it's passible."
Van Cleef dialed Public Safety, only to find out that not only were they unaware of the closure, but so were the Dinwiddie County Sheriff's Office and Fire and EMS.
Dinwiddie Fire Chief Dennis Hale said that the department "had no idea that road had been blocked."
When Hale arrived at the crossing, he too found no detour signs on the road.
"It is frustrating cause had something happened, that just puts us in such a bad position," he said.
After phone calls to Amelia County, Norfolk Southern, and more investigating, Hale was finally able to receive an answer to the mysterious road closure.
Hale says one notice was mailed to the county regarding the closure.
"It appears they [Norfolk Southern] have a contractor working for the railroad, that's not familiar with the area, was new to the area, and had sent the notification to the wrong folks within the county," Hale said.
After CBS 6 reached out to Norfolk Southern for comment, they responded with the following:
Our contractor coordinates with local officials ahead of the work, and we will work with first responders in the event of an emergency.
Those who live on or use Baltimore Road every day say they are hopeful that the construction project gets wrapped up soon so they don't have to use any of the detours.
Following the mix-up, Hale says it inspired Dinwiddie County to upgrade their notification system so this does not happen again.
"We’re going to create our own internal, kind of notification system so this really doesn’t happen again," Hale said. "If anybody gets one of these things, you just hit the button and it hits everybody.”
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