Beaumont, CA - The City of Beaumont recognizes that Wednesday afternoon’s traffic congestion in the southern part of town has caused concerns, inconvenience, and frustration for our residents. The traffic backup was caused by an immobile train blocking three of our city’s thoroughfares from our southern border to the northern part of town.
In response to that event, City Council and staff have contacted our United States Congressman Raul Ruiz and have invited his staff to our City Council meeting on Tuesday, June 21st to meet with City Council. City Council intends to request that our congressman push for stronger legislation that allows trains to move out of the path of traffic for safety purposes EVEN if the employees have exceeded their legal driving hours. Additionally, at the meeting on June 21st, City Council will discuss and act on draft letters to the California Public Utilities Commission and the Federal Railroad Administration which will include a request to investigate Union Pacific’s actions as it relates to the hazardous situation caused by the immobile train. And finally, Union Pacific has been contacted to set up a meeting with staff to discuss how they intend to mitigate this situation from occurring again, as well as how the city can effectively communicate with railroad emergency employees when necessary to ensure that our citizens’ quality of life is never again disrupted by a downed train.
The city is also currently reviewing the adopted evacuation plan included in the Beaumont General Plan Safety Element and will be making necessary adjustments to that plan. Some of the projects that City Council continues to work on to improve resident mobility include the Pennsylvania Avenue Widening Project, which should be completed by July of 2023; the extension of 2nd Street, westerly to Pennsylvania Avenue; the Pennsylvania Avenue Grade Separation, which City Council has authorized additional funding of $750,000 for design, and a new police and fire station to be located in the southwestern portion of Beaumont.
City Council is committed to enhancing the quality of life for all residents and will continue to push for new legislation, improve safety plans, and build necessary infrastructure that will prevent events such as Wednesday afternoon’s traffic congestion from occurring again.
Mayor Lloyd White