As residents made their way home, the cars backed up, stranding some on the shoulder of Interstate 10-Tangerine Road. But the rush-hour traffic wasn’t the issue. For reasons unknown, the train passing on the tracks at the exit stopped.
Such train stoppages have become a frequent frustration for the residents of Gladden Farms on the other side of Tangerine Road. The trains have backed up traffic onto the I-10 interstate exit there for as long as three hours, according to residents posting on a Gladden Farms group Facebook page.
Gladden Farms, the sprawling subdivision with nearly 40,000 residents on the other side of Tangerine and I-10, is impacted the most by these stops. In the private Gladden Farms Community Life Facebook group, residents share photos, aggravations and updates. Residents have even taken to mass reporting to Union Pacific.
Residence of the sprawling Gladden Farms community in Marana have gotten stuck behind a stalled train on North Tangerine Road and the freeway.
The Marana Unified School District is also impacted by the stopped trains. Charles “Chuck” Basinger, the district’s transportation operations manager, said that the buses require rerouting when the trains are blocking access to Tangerine. In the worst-case scenarios, drivers call the schools directly and tell them their students will be late.
The Northwest Fire District has also spoken out on workarounds to ensure public safety isn’t at risk. In an email, Battalion Chief Kyle Canty wrote that although they haven’t had many encounters with the Tangerine Road train stops, the crew has “had apparatus delayed because of trains passing through” at other tracks districtwide.
“Our dispatch is designed to send the closest most appropriate apparatus to the call” in the event of an issue with a train, he said. “With that said, if a train is stopped and blocking the roadway, specifically at Tangerine, our responding crew would notify dispatch to send another unit.”
The Marana Town Public Works Department is aware of these issues and has reached out to both ADOT and Union Pacific. “Complaints currently are related to the horn and/or the train blocking the road,” town communications manager Vic Hathaway said in an email.
“The town recognizes the traffic challenges at Tangerine Road Interchange due to the railroad and has been in contact with ADOT to identify immediate solutions, including adjusting the signal timing,” she said. Hathaway advises residents to contact Union Pacific directly and to use the Twin Peaks Interchange as an alternate route.
Union Pacific officials, in an email, said they “continuously work to minimize blocked crossings caused by stopped trains,” and would like to “keep trains moving.” They referred to their 24/7 Response Management Communications Center and website for those wanting to report blocked crossings.
But Hathaway said the only way to “accommodate the community’s needs” would be for Union Pacific to avoid having trains stop for long periods. She added that the town has no authority to direct the company to do that so it would have to be their decision.
The Marana Public Works Department is, however, working to adjust signal timing at the intersection to keep traffic from backing onto westbound I-10. The town’s master plan also has a number of suggestions that have yet to be finalized.
Arizona Sonoran News is a news service of the University of Arizona School of Journalism.
