CHINA GROVE — Town officials on Tuesday dished out some harsh criticism of a railroad project that’s resulted in business closings and increased commute times for south Rowan residents.

With Department of Transportation staff  in attendance, the town board and town manager Ken Deal chastised the pace of construction at railroad crossings in China Grove and asked for answers about when traffic patterns might return to normal. Mayor Don Bringle welcomed Kelly Seitz and Richard Haff, who work in the Rowan DOT office, to the meeting, but joked that both should walk lightly as they exit. Bringle then started airing his and residents’ complaints alike.

“We were told two months the railroad would have Centerview (Street) closed and we’re going on four months with nobody there working,” Bringle said. “We had heard earlier that Duke Power was the problem, but Duke Power turned out not to be the problem. It was an excuse that someone passed onto us.”

Railroad projects throughout Rowan County are part of the Piedmont Improvement Program, which aims to increase safety at rail crossings and speed up commute times for trains. Various pieces of the Piedmont Improvement Program, individual railroad crossings for example, have different completion dates, but all construction is scheduled to wrap up by 2017. The completion date is tied to funding awarded for construction.

One of his chief concerns, Bringle said, was the appearance that no work is being done. As a result, he said downtown business are seeing a decline in revenue and its lowering the traffic count in downtown China Grove.

“Every now and then I see a dump truck moving dirt, but I don’t see people,” Bringle said. “We’ve got Farmer’s Day, which ya’ll have no idea what that is. We bring about 25,000 people downtown on a Saturday and (Centerview) is a major throughway of people coming in and out of town walking and driving.”

Seitz began his explanation of the construction delays by saying he understands the frustration.

“Believe me,” Bringle said. “You really don’t understand.”

Seitz continued saying the project involves significantly more entities than a typical project and has required many revisions to the originally proposed plan. Seitz said contractors for the project are working on other railroad crossings throughout Rowan and may simply not have enough crews to do all of the work.

“Unfortunately, they’re supposed to be working 90 percent of this project in July and we have yet to see that kind of production out of the contract,” Seitz said.

Seitz said Department of Transportation staff have concerns about the contractor’s work, adding that the contractor is in liquidated damages on several sections.

Bringle said all he’d like is to get answers about when the project might be complete. Half-jokingly, Bringle asked if the town could just put some dirt over the railroad tracks and let cars drive over the crossing.

Mayor Pro Tem Lee Withers suggested going as high as Governor Pat McCrory’s office to find out why work isn’t progressing as planned on sections of railroad near China Grove. Withers said he’d start by contacting State Board of Transportation member Jake Alexander, who represents Rowan County.

Town Manager Ken Deal chimed in, offering criticism of North Carolina Railroad, which owns tracks in Rowan.

“They run everything from heaven to hell,” Deal said.

In other business from Tuesday’s meeting:

• The town board approved the start of an upset bid process for a piece of property located adjacent to U.S. 29.

The piece of property is part of a package of land approved for a rezoning to highway business during Tuesday’s meeting. The town approve the sale of a track of land measuring less than an acre for $26,000 to China Grove NC FD LLC. The company is registered to A. Joseph Strickland, 600 South Main St., Landis.

Because the town board authorized an upset bid process, another interested buyer would be able to make a bid of 27,300 and supersede the price approved during Tuesday’s meeting.

• Immediately after the upset bid process vote, the town quickly approved a rezoning of the town’s property and an adjacent tract of land to highway business for a Family Dollar store.

The vote to approve the rezoning occurred without significant discussion. The two tracts of land approved for rezoning are 135 East Centerview Street, currently owned by the town of China Grove, and another tract of land in the 600 block of East Ketchie Street, owned by Grady Sloop of Bland, Va.

The Sloop property is 1.71 acres and the town’s property is 0.43 acres.

Rezoning documents state the rezoning of the Sloop property is for a Family Dollar store.

Contact reporter Josh Bergeron at 704-797-4246.