The worst-placed railroad crossing in the entire city of Springfield, Missouri is located at Chestnut Expressway, right by US Highway 65. If you drive Chestnut regularly in East Springfield you will know what I mean.

When the gates are up, the crossing allows Chestnut to be the fast track for those having to merge onto US 65 from mid-town. But in the morning or evening rush hours, when those gates come down and trains containing over 100 cars come slowly through, everything turns to crap.

I’ve seen traffic back up clear past Prince Lane on the west side of the tracks, and on the east side I’ve seen it get as bad as to back up onto US 65′s right lane. If it weren’t for Sunshine and National (well, National from Sunshine on south at rush hour), this would be Springfield’s de facto worst traffic problem.

So I was looking up on Google to see if anyone else hates the railroad crossing there, and to my surprise no one has blogged about it — BUT I found an interesting page from the Missouri Department of Transportation, that shows the state plans to reconfigure the 65 and Chestnut interchange.

FINALLY! THE TRAFFIC PROBLEM WILL BE ALLEVIATED!!!

Or will it?

First off, the plan is to convert the interchange into a diverging diamond. What is a diverging diamond, you ask? Well, look at this illustration from Wikipedia:

WTFTFTFTF!?!?!?! In a city where nearly half the general population drives as if they are confused by simple road laws already, I can’t even begin to imagine people’s consternation while driving this newfangled format.

Secondly, there is a plan to add signals to the intersection of Chestnut and Ingram Mill Roads in order to regulate traffic flow — BUT THE PROJECT STOPS THERE.

Which means nothing will be done about the train tracks. Nothing. Trains will still impede us at rush hour and we will be subjected to twenty-minute delays, longer if you’re trying to turn left onto US 65.

So the way I see it, and correct me if I’m wrong, but MoDOT’s plan will allow us to get off the freeway faster, which in turn allows us an extra fifteen seconds of travel time or so — only to be stopped by a train??? That’s not cool.

Why didn’t they do something awesome with our tax money and just build an overpass over the tracks. Simple enough. Then make a feeder road that will still connect to the area businesses. Problem solved. Instead, we that travel US 65 in the mornings and afternoons and utilize Chestnut as our main route into town from the freeway, will still be at the trains’ mercy when time is of the essence. It doesn’t make sense at all.