The Alabama Department of Transportation and city officials have acknowledged there is a traffic flow problem in downtown Hartselle, especially when a CRX freight trains stop the flow, said Jeff O. Johnson, director of the department of development.

“We realize and are very aware of the signal problem downtown,” he said.

Trains cut traffic flow east to west on Main Street each day in Hartselle around 36 times. Gridlock is caused when the lights are still functioning as if there was still flow on the stopped east-west roads.

However, the city has found a solution, a system that would coordinate the red light controllers with the train track crossing gates, Johnson said.

“When the crossing gates go down that sends a signal to the red light controller which goes into a preemption mode to let the north-south roads go,” he said.

The city is currently working to get a state traffic engineer, required by ALDOT, to do the state required traffic study in the Hartselle downtown area to possibility get the system in place, Johnson said.