CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Multiple instances of railroad crossing gates getting stuck while down in Odem have resulted in traffic jams lasting for hours.
This has prompted local and state agencies to provide assistance.
Odem Mayor David Maldonado said Union Pacific came to resolve an issue with sensors on the track, which falsely indicated the presence of a train even when there was not one.
"You'll have traffic out, you know, out of town for, you know, at least a mile out. Sometimes even further depending on how long the, the crossing arms are down," Maldonado said.
The railroad crossing has experienced its gates being stuck four times in the last couple of weeks. It occurred for three consecutive days last week, from Friday through Sunday.
"I guess the system believed a train was coming and so, it, it just dropped the arms," Maldonado said.
Maldonado said that Union Pacific halted traffic on the affected line last Friday to allow cars to pass through. He also assisted with traffic control, along with the police and a volunteer firefighter. San Patricio County Sheriff Oscar Rivera said that on some nights, it took hours to resolve the situation.
"911 call center goes crazy. People calling in, what's going on in Odem? Why are, why are we standstill here?," Rivera said.
Rivera's department received assistance from the Texas Department of Transportation and the Texas Department of Public Safety last weekend for traffic control. Cars were redirected to U.S. Highway 188 in Sinton on Saturday to bypass Odem while the gates were stuck. He mentioned that the traffic backlog hindered first responders' movements, but luckily, there were no major emergencies.
"When your traffic is backed up all the way down to Nueces River Bridge, you can't cut across. People are blocking the roads," Rivera said.
Rivera said that up to 44,000 cars pass through Odem during busy times like Labor Day Weekend. Maldonado expressed concerns about highway traffic through neighborhoods causing disruptions but reassured that there haven't been any issues since the recent incident last Sunday.
"Since they came out here, we haven't had any issues. So, we're hoping and kind of got our fingers crossed that, you know, they took care of the problem," Maldonado said.
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