Alice railroad crossing at Flournoy and Sain Drive closes Monday for repairs

Drivers, school buses and delivery trucks that rely on the Flournoy and Sain Drive railroad crossing will be blocked for most of the workday Monday, May 18, while Kansas City Southern Railroad Company performs repair work from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

The City of Alice posted notice of the temporary closure on May 11 and said TxDOT will handle traffic control during the shutdown. Alice Independent School District, the Alice Police Department and the Alice Fire Department were also notified ahead of time, underscoring that the closure is being managed as a public-safety and mobility issue, not just a routine maintenance job.

For commuters, the biggest pinch point will be the crossing itself, where traffic that normally moves between the two sides of the tracks will have to find another way around. That will affect morning errands, school pickups, delivery routes and any worker whose shift begins or ends during the closure window. Residents and businesses on either side of the tracks should plan for extra travel time and expect short delays whenever traffic is diverted away from the crossing.

The repair work also fits into a broader local infrastructure system. The City of Alice describes itself as a full-service community that provides police and fire protection, recreation, street maintenance and public utilities. Its Engineering Division evaluates and manages street maintenance projects and work in city rights-of-way, which helps explain why even a railroad crossing repair can trigger coordination among city departments, the school district and state transportation officials.

Jim Wells County, the City of Alice and the City of Orange Grove also share the Be Alert mass-notification system powered by Everbridge, a reminder that the region already has a communications network in place for disruptions like this one. Monday’s crossing closure is the sort of short-term interruption that can ripple through a morning in Alice, especially along a route that local drivers use every day.

The Flournoy and Sain Drive crossing has drawn attention before. A previous closure at the location was reported after a train clipped an 18-wheeler, with no injuries reported. Separate railroad tragedy has also touched the Alice area, including a train collision just outside the city that killed 46-year-old Corina Salinas. Those incidents are not tied to Monday’s repair work, but they help explain why crossing safety remains a closely watched issue in Jim Wells County.

With the crossing shut down for seven hours, the safest move is simple: avoid that route altogether while crews work and traffic control is in place.