Safety improvements have been announced for a hazardous railroad crossing in western Massachusetts.
MassDOT has committed $700,000 to help Amtrak install a gate and warning lights at the railroad crossing on Birnie Road in Longmeadow.
Five people have been killed there including town DPW worker Warren Cowles. He died last year when the snowplow he was operating was hit by a train.
His sister Cindy Cowles rallied the community to demand safety improvements.
"They say the government works slow, which I know they do, but I don't," said Cowles, standing just 100 yards from where her brother was killed on March 14, 2017.
" I was determined that this is going to be done and done sooner rather than later," said Cowles.
The work at the crossing is expected to start in 2019.
The funding from MassDOT will cover 90 percent of the cost of the project, with Amtrak paying the rest.
