KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Recent work near a Kalamazoo intersection is causing problems, such as bumps in the road for some drivers.
"It's smooth, but you get some... you get some clearance, some air time," said driver Naquay Carpenter.
Expect less air than the good ol' boys from The Dukes of Hazzard.
"I've had that intrusive thought, but after today's experience, I will never go because I just can't afford the repairs," Carpenter said.
It's an issue the city of Kalamazoo is well aware of after recently reopening the roadway after doing construction on Howard Street just northwest of Stadium Drive.
"If you step on the gas and you want to go 45 or 50 miles an hour, then you end up bottoming out, and you can see the marks there in the pavement," Kalamazoo Public Works Manager and City Traffic Engineer Dennis Randolph said.
Randolph knows a lot about traffic engineering after being in the business of working on roads for more than half a century.
His latest challenge is this railroad crossing. He explained that a section of the railroad crossing is causing the problems.
"The problem that's out there is that they adjusted their rails," Randolph said. "What they did is they raised one of the rails up nine inches."
FOX 17 reached out to Amtrak. A spokesperson explains they "replaced the panels as routine during street closures."
"The problem is that there are two sets of tracks, and they didn't make a smooth transition between the now higher rail and the lower rail," Randolph said.
The city traffic engineer adds they're working to solve this.
"I could hire a contractor, and we could do it relatively quickly. It's only a half a day's work to grind it down. Get out of the way, but we can't go on railroad property," Randolph said.
Kalamazoo officials say they want to see the problem fixed soon, but it will likely take time.
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