Murphy City Council voted Sept. 15 to spend $30,000 repairing an LED warning light on the railroad track west of the Murphy Road crossing. The light helps eastbound train operators confirm the crossing signal is working before they reach a blind curve.

Public Works Director Donald Reese told the council the LED flashes an "X" to show engineers the Murphy Road crossing signal is functioning. Without it, a train operator heading east cannot see the crossing until rounding the curve.

"If the train is traveling east, there's a blind curve there, and if that light is not flashing the X, it cannot see the crossing on Murphy," Reese said, as first reported by the Murphy Monitor.

When the LED is out, trains must sound their horns continuously until the engineer rounds the curve and can see the crossing signal directly. The repair should reduce prolonged horn blasts near the crossing.

The railroad operator at Murphy Road and the contractor for the repair were not identified in available public records. The vote tally was also not available as of publication.

Stormwater program enters year three

At the same Sept. 15 meeting, Public Works Superintendent Daniel Paredez updated the council on Murphy's Stormwater Management Program, now in its third year.

The program is state-mandated. It falls under a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) permit, known as the Phase II Small MS4 General Permit, that requires municipalities to reduce pollutant discharges into local waterways and submit annual reports to TCEQ. Paredez outlined state requirements and the steps Murphy takes to keep pollutants out of area creeks and drainage channels.

Details on specific practices or benchmarks from the presentation were not available.

As of the city's July 21 meeting, the council includes Mayor Scott Bradley, Mayor Pro Tem W. Scott Smith, Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Kenneth Oltmann and Council Members Jené Butler, Kevin Kelley, Debbie Ison and Elizabeth Abraham. The next council meeting date was not available as of publication.