Railroads Crossing Highways at Grade

Any historical questions can be posted here. Answers would certainly help as well :)
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Michael
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Re: Railroads Crossing Highways at Grade

Unread post by Michael »

MQT1223 wrote:
jrgerber wrote:Thanks.

So where did the Owosso and Bath line cross I-69 or didn't it?
Just SW of Bath. There appears to be no evidence of a bridge, unless the rails were gone prior to 69.
Looking at old aerials and topographic maps it appears that the line was removed before that section of I-69 was built and so no bridge.

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J T
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Re: Railroads Crossing Highways at Grade

Unread post by J T »

MQT3001 wrote:
MQT1223 wrote:
jrgerber wrote:Thanks.

So where did the Owosso and Bath line cross I-69 or didn't it?
Just SW of Bath. There appears to be no evidence of a bridge, unless the rails were gone prior to 69.
MDOT may have removed the hill, if there was a bridge. They've done that in some places. However like Elmdale they just filled the void and took the bridge out, while at Lamar they've so far elected to leave the bridge in.
Those rails were removed in the 70s. In the mid to late 80s, my friends and I used to ride our ATVs on that ROW all the way from the north side of Lansing (starting where the Eastwood Towne Center now resides) to Bath. Just west of Bath and southwest of the Drumheller Rd crossing was a gravel pit that had some great trails and hills for riding. When they finally started building the highway in the late 80s, our ROW trail and riding area were ruined. We also used to take the ROW to Drumheller and then to Priggorris Park. Lots of great riding there as well until they banned off road vehicles from the park.
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Dan Cluley
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Re: Railroads Crossing Highways at Grade

Unread post by Dan Cluley »

As JT says, the tracks were gone long before they built that stretch of I-69.

The 127 crossing is just about a mile north of Lake Lansing Rd. Right after you get past Eastwood Town Center there is a bridge over the ROW.

I don't think there were ever tracks near the 127/69 interchange, but there may be the ROW of an earlier highway alignment. Between the construction of I-69 and the extension of 127 north at that point, there has been some significant changes there in the last 40 years.

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Re: Railroads Crossing Highways at Grade

Unread post by jrgerber »

Thanks for the info everyone. NYC must have had some operation in the Lansing area back in the day.

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