Bristow Businesses Prompt City's Second Look At Closing Railroad Crossing

Bristow City Councilors will revisit the issue of closing a railroad crossing with the help of a federal program in order to get upgrades to other crossings in town. The council voted over the summer to close a railroad crossing on East 8th Street.

But several businesses did not agree with the decision.

Unless the city council changes its vote Monday night, the current plan will close the crossing and make East 8th Street a dead end.

East 8th Street in Bristow is made of old red bricks, with traffic going in each direction, crossing over the railroad tracks.

Carla Holzrichter is a State Farm agent, one of several business owners on the street.

“Other than 1st St., which becomes Highway 16, this is the only street that goes all the way through town,” Holzrichter said. “And it actually goes out to a road on the country, and there's lots of people who live out there.”

Other businesses include a hair salon and an H&R Block. Sooner Pecan Company and Pecan and Ag Equipment have been on this street for more than five decades.

But the street could become a dead end because the city council voted to take part in the federal Railroad Crossing Elimination Program.

At least six businesses wrote letters to the city expressing their frustrations.

“We were all hurt, disappointed,” Holzrichter said.

Something that caught the attention of Mayor Kris Wyatt while reading the letters is the amount of semi-trucks that go down this street for business that would need to make U-turns if the street turned into a dead end.

“I hadn't, until that time, realized the magnitude of the truck traffic that would be involved with that,” Wyatt said.

Mayor Wyatt said it is not too late for the city to change its mind.

“We're not the enemy here. I mean, this was not done with the intention of shutting down anyone's business or eliminating access or restricting access to a business. This s wa misstep,” she said. “This was a misstep, and I'll own that. I'll say I didn't know, who didn't know, and I don't know how to get information to people when they don't know it.”

Mayor Wyatt encouraged people to come to Monday’s meetings.

Holzrichter is disappointed in the lack of communication up to this point and said no one with the city discussed with the business owners on East 8th Street that it was considering closing the railroad crossing.

“I shouldn't have to worry that our city council members and our mayor care about us. We are the lifeblood of a small town,” Holzrichter said.

A public meeting about the issue started at 5:45 at City Hall on Monday, then the city council meeting begins at 7:00, where councilors will have the option to vote on this a second time.

The mayor said a railroad representative will be at the public discussion to answer questions.