Davenport Iowa USA - A task force of Davenport council members and riverfront commissioners wants Canadian Pacific's (CP) civil engineers to go back to the drawing board with some of the early designs for railroad crossing repairs.
 
Plans provided by engineering firm HDR were reviewed publicly by the task force on Monday afternoon.
 
Concerns were raised with one railroad crossing that leads into River Heritage Park from River Drive, which the task force wholly rejected, and another at Main Street that members say needs to be aesthetically correct for the area.
 
The task force was established by Davenport Mayor Frank Klipsch in March to study long term capital projects along the riverfront.
 
Now, members are looking for ways to square the CP's changes to the railroad track crossings with some of the bigger plans for an area frequently touted as the city's greatest asset.
 
At issue is a decision by CP to raise its railroad tracks for the purpose of protecting the rails and allowing train traffic to move through Davenport unimpeded by flooding.
 
CP officials have met with city leaders in recent weeks seeking an amicable solution that meets their obligation to restore the crossings.
 
While the stated purpose of Monday's meeting was centered on review of design specifications offered by the railroad's engineers, task force members spent a considerable portion of their meeting talking about how CP might be persuaded, or forced, to put the railroad tracks back where they were in the first place.
 
Among the possible solutions to that end was a suggestion by Riverfront Improvement Commissioner Bill Ashton to consider moving the city's flood protection strategy to include CP's railroad tracks.
 
If the city moved its temporary flood wall of HESCO barriers to protect the tracks, he said, it could be possible to convince railroad officials to lower the tracks back to where they were.
 
"I'm not saying that's the right answer," Ashton said, adding later that he wants the council and public works department to keep negotiations open with the railroad before a deal is struck that cannot be undone.
 
Other possibilities on the table include litigation forwarded by the city of Davenport that might compel CP to lower its tracks to the original height, said Davenport Alderman Kyle Gripp, at-large.
 
But City Attorney Tom Warner said Monday he doubts the city would gain much by taking the matter to court, saying the city has very limited regulatory authority over a railroad and there's probably no way to legally force the railroad to put the tracks back.
 
"I highly doubt it because the decisions on how to run the railroad are really between the railroad and the Surface Transportation Board at the federal level," Warner said during the meeting.
 
City council members are scheduled to discuss the railroad tracks on Tuesday afternoon with Davenport administrators as they look for direction on how to proceed.
 
Gripp said the city council will hash out the same issue with new input gathered, but cautioned that the city needs to begin moving toward a solution.
 
"We need to start making a decision on which way we want to direct our people to go," Gripp said.
 
Bill Lukitsch.