Veterans Parkway repairs forcing delays as motorists diverted to side streets

If you are planning to take Veterans Parkway into downtown Columbus on Monday, a quick word of advice would be to avoid the area near Ninth Street.

Norfolk Southern Railroad and a private construction crew have the main north-south thoroughfare into and out of downtown completely blocked at the Ninth Street intersection for repair work on the railroad tracks.

The intersection was blocked just after 10 a.m. Monday morning, giving the rush-hour traffic a chance to dissipate. The one-day repair work is scheduled to be completed at 7 p.m., which would impact traffic during the 5 p.m. rush hour, according to the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Workers on site said the work could be completed before the evening rush, but could not commit to that.

The railroad tracks that run down Ninth Street toward the trestle into Alabama from the Norfolk Southern switching yard east of Veterans Parkway have fallen into disrepair, leaving gaps between the asphalt and the concrete around the tracks as deep as 2 inches.

A detour has been set up along Veterans. Traffic coming north from Victory Drive is being diverted to Fifth Avenue for two blocks, then back onto Veterans at 10th Street. The traffic coming south on Veterans is being diverted at 10th Street to Third Avenue, then back onto Veterans at Eighth Street.

The roadwork was producing minimal delays about 11 a.m., but that is expected to pick up around noon and continue into the afternoon.