RIPLEY, N.Y. (WKBW) — For years, Bobbie White has sounded the alarm about blocked train crossings on Klondike Road in Ripley.
“So much has happened over the last two years. I mean, we've just gotten nowhere,” White told me. “It’s like we hit a wall every place we go.”
We spoke to White in May 2023 when she started to raise concerns.
She and her neighbors say Norfolk Southern trains routinely stop and sit on the tracks near their homes on a dead-end road, sometimes for hours, cutting off access to and from the area multiple times a week.
“There’s no way to get in, and there’s no way to get out,” White said. “If there’s an emergency or a fire, there’s no way to get out of here...We're trapped. We can't get out."
White frequently messages 7 News when the crossings are blocked—sometimes even in the middle of the night. In one video she shared, she says: “It’s 2:12 in the morning... we’ve been here for a long, long time.”
The longtime resident says the blocked crossings have disrupted daily life for her, her husband and her grandchildren.
“My grandkids live with me, and when the bus comes, it can’t get through,” she said. “My husband even got written up for missing work because he couldn’t get out. There’s nothing we can do.”
Neighbor Stephen Mooney says he’s dealt with this problem most of his life.
“It’s cost me a couple of jobs,” he said. “It’s been going on for decades, and nobody’s ever tried to solve it.”
7 News has reached out to local, state and federal officials, as well as Norfolk Southern. So far, no clear solution has been offered.
“It’s just ridiculous that it’s falling on deaf ears,” Mooney said. “Everyone says, ‘I’ll do something,’ then they pass the ball. Sooner or later, we’ve got to make a touchdown here.”
Chautauqua County Sheriff James Quattrone tells 7 News that under New York law, it’s illegal to intentionally block a public railroad crossing for more than five minutes. But enforcement is complicated—railroads often argue these delays are out of their control, underscoring the need for stronger federal oversight.
“We need a solution,” Mooney said.
White agrees—and worries about the consequences if nothing changes.
“Lives could be ruined,” she said. “I could die up there. My grandchild could get hurt. A kid up the road could fall. And no one would be able to reach us.”
Even if it means fighting for a grant to build a new connecting road, White says she’s not backing down.
“I’m not gonna stop banging on doors. I’m not gonna stop," she said.
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