JULIETTE, Ga. — It's been going on for years. As we've reported before, Norfolk Southern's trains stopped for hours and blocking a Juliette intersection causing traffic, delays and headaches for Monroe County first responders and residents.
In 2022, Norfolk Southern's trains block the crossing weekly, for up to 12 hours and the people in Juliette say they have been railroaded too many times.
Now, Monroe County is trying to help folks navigate around those trains that often stall. The Monroe County Commissioners Office installed a 24-hour live camera so drivers can see ahead of time whether the tracks are blocked.
Greg Tapley is a Monroe County Commission chair.
"Definitely a continual issue here in Monroe County," Tapley said. "We did one small thing which we thought would be helpful, at least."
Tapley said it only took six weeks later to fully install the live camera by the railroad tracks.
"One of our residents asked if we can put a camera up and I said 'You know what, at least we can try to do that to help them from being in an inconvenience'," Tapley said. "At least they can click on that link and go, 'Okay there's a train there, I'm going to go a different direction instead of coming up to it, now I got to turn around and go back.'"
Kathy Dean lives around the corner.
"The railroad has gotten better," Dean said. "They used to park on the tracks more than they are doing now. You won't know how long it's going to sit there and even if you call the phone number, they may not tell you the truth. They'll tell you 45 minutes and really it's 12 hours."
Dean has heard one too many horror stories about the train getting stuck or stopping and says she's even gotten stuck plenty of times.
"They call and have people get on the other side of the tracks and they climb through the train to get to people on the other side and they'll come get their car on this side later, which is very dangerous people have died doing that," Dean said. "
Dean says the newly installed camera seems to be a step in the right direction.
Even though they have to figure out detours, at least they got a heads-up.
"I feel like somebody's helped us some because it has gotten better, but it's not done yet," Dean said.
The live feed is available on the Juliette Railroad Crossing YouTube page.
The company told us it's due to a number of reasons like mechanical issues, staffing shortages, and crews taking breaks of up to four hours.
Anyone can look to see if the railroad crossing is blocked and affecting travel times.