County closes intersection following train, car collision

Following a fatal accident late last month, Macon-Bibb County will temporarily close the Forsyth and Tucker Road railroad crossing, citing safety concerns.

The Macon-Bibb County engineering department will conduct a study at the intersection, closing it down indefinitely at 10 a.m. Dec. 18, to see if there’s anything the county can do to make it safer, a county spokesperson said.

“There is a great deal of concern about the safety of that intersection due to its design, as well as how traffic flows through the whole area, and we want to use this time to determine if there are permanent changes that can make it safer,” Mayor Lester Miller said.

The closure comes after increased public input and a collision on the tracks last month that killed a 76-year-old woman.

Cheryl Rawls died Nov. 25 after her car was struck by a freight train at the intersection of Forsyth and Tucker Road Nov. 22.

Rawls was heading west on Tucker Road and stopped on the train tracks just before the Forsyth Road intersection when crossing arms came down and trapped her silver SUV inside the crossing area, according to a police report.

Witnesses reported Rawls drove back and forth on the crossing in an attempt to escape, and even after witnesses reportedly urged Rawls to exit the vehicle, she remained inside. 

The train, heading northbound, struck Rawls’ vehicle at around 2:35 p.m.. Police arrived 10 minutes later along with EMS and Rawls was extracted from the wreckage.

Rawls was transported to Atrium Navicent, and was kept on a ventilator before being declared dead three days later. 

The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office investigation is still ongoing, and a traffic investigator was not made available for an interview.

Leon Jones, Bibb County coroner, said this intersection has been historically dangerous because of its traffic light and where the road ends.

“It’s a tragedy for the family,” he said. “It’s a tragedy for the citizens who live there in North Macon.”

Since Forsyth Road is a state and federal route that runs alongside the Norfolk Southern’s train tracks, the county’s ability to address the safety issue is limited, Macon-Bibb County Traffic Safety Manager Weston Stroud said, and drivers have to be cautious where they stop because of the steep grade.

However, taxpayers funded a study for one possible solution in 1998, according to The Telegraph’s archives. The proposal, developed at a cost of $20,000, called for a one-way crossing made by eliminating left turns from the southbound lanes of Forsyth Road and right turns from the northbound lanes.

Rawls was a former biology teacher at Stratford Academy, and owned the Invisible Fence Company in Macon, according to Monroe County Memorial Chapel.

Laura Corley contributed to the reporting of this story.