MANNFORD – More than 50 years ago, Fred Campbell purchased property in the Basin when Mannford was smaller and the railroad tracks didn’t have controlled crossing arms to stop traffic.
Campbell said he usually leaves around 30 minutes to an hour if he needs to be somewhere by a certain time and traffic gets blocked up. He said the most recent one happened on March 24, 2026.
“I went back and forth from home three times, trying to see when I could possibly get out. It was 8:25 a.m. when I got to the blockage and traffic was blocked from the tracks all the way back to lake county,” Campbell said. “I have no idea how bad it was on the south side, but people were irate and one lady told me that it was to be her first day at a new job and wanted to know if I had any idea how long the track would be blocked. I told her that I’ve seen this kind of thing last hours. The road is narrow and that also can make it difficult to even give up and turn around. So some people were double trapped and could do nothing but wait.”
Basin Road is a two-lane rural major collector and is the only way in and out of a peninsula, surrounded by water with the Cimarron River on the west and Keystone Lake on the east. Residents and visitors to the lake have been stuck in their cars for over 45 minutes due to a train stopped on the side track that blocks the road. If there is a medical emergency, or the peninsula needs to be evacuated due to natural disasters, residents have no reliable evacuation route, according to Mannford Railroad Crossing Planning Project to Improve Basin Road Connection by Oklahoma Department of Transportation.
“The misconception is that people think the railroad gives two figs about the problem at the tracks because they do not,” Campbell said. “Whatever gets done will largely be the expense of the federal government ( tax payers) NOT the railroad. Case in point: the two options out there. Bridge or through road to Highway 48. The second option (road to 48) has problems all of its own as well.”
According to Mannford Railroad Crossing Planning Project to Improve Basin Road Connection by Oklahoma Department of Transportation in Sept. 23, 2024, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) requested Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Railroad Crossing Elimination (RCE) grant funding in the amount of $1.2 million for project administration and management, public and stakeholder engagement and preliminary engineering to consider grade separated alternatives for an existing at-grade crossing of the BNSF Railway (Burlington Northland Santa Fe) on Basin Road., in Mannford, OK.
Throughout the study, stakeholders such as BNSF, the City of Mannford, Muscogee Nation and Cimarron Transit will be involved to confirm that the developed alternatives meet their needs.
Letters of support were sent from BNSF, U.S. Senator Lankford, State Representative Kyle Hilbert, Creek County Commissioners, Mannford Town Administrator, Mannford Chief of Police, Mannford Fire Department, Mannford Public Schools and the Indian Nations Council of Governments (INCOG), the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the Tulsa region.
Jeff Larson, owner of D.L Harmer and Co. in Mannford, said that the town was awarded almost $2 million to build a bridge, but since it was unable to make up the majority of the money to reach the $10 million it would cost, the money was returned.
“ODOT is collaborating closely with BNSF Railway to develop a permanent solution. In early 2025, the Federal Railroad Administration awarded a $1.2 million planning grant under the Railroad Crossing Elimination (RCE) program for the Mannford Railroad Crossing Planning Project to Improve Basin Road Connection,” said Emily Long from Oklahoma Department of Transportation. “Because this is a planning and engineering grant rather than a construction award, no physical groundwork has begun yet.
OnOct.23,2024,Mannford Chamber of Commerce held a public briefing to display efforts to effect change with BNSF crossing on Basin Road during its monthly meeting.
In the meeting, preliminary alternatives to alleviate congestion at the BNSF Crossing on Basin Road were presented.
1. Grade separated bridge over the railroad mainline and siding The bridge would extend Basin Road south across the railroad on a bridge and/or straight alignment and tie to SH-51 with a new entrance to the west. The Right of Way acquisition of several parcels would be required on both sides of the railroad along with the relocation of several of the modular homes on the south. This solution would cost an estimate of $15 to $20 million and be the most expensive solution.
2. New 2.7 mile long access road connecting Basin Road to SH-48 – also known as “the road to nowhere” With a design of 2 – 12’ lanes, 2’ shoulders (county road standards) and V-bottom ditches, the road would leverage the existing Forest Drive alignment and improve, as well as extend, it to the west, which would essentially parallel the railroad and connect it to SH-48. The Right of Way acquisition of several parcels would also be required. The road would meet the median range in regards to cost, and come to a qualified estimate of $7 million to $9 million.
3. Repositioning of the existing rail siding to the west The reposition would basically move the siding further to the west and position it between Basin Road and SH-48. And 0.6 miles of the new track would extend west toward SH-48, and 0.2 miles of the track would be removed from the Basin Road crossing and resurfacing. Although mainline tail traffic would still activate the crossing, the trains occupying the siding wouldn’t block the crossing for extended periods of time. Around 0.4 of a mile of the trackage would be added to the siding and add to the siding capacity of the railroad. The reposition would be the lowest alternative at an estimated cost of $5 million.
Jeff Larson, who said he “has no skin in the game” and was present in the meeting, believes the bridge is the only option for Mannford.
Larson said the town of Mannford is suffering from a housing shortage, economic problems and more, but the railroad crossing has become a major thought process.
He spoke of last summer in 2025, when trains would break down, and one specifically that broke down for four to five hours.
“There’s no way to get a fire truck, there’s no way to get emergency vehicles,” he said. “And so they got a group together to try to decide what a solution could be.”
He said there was an entertained idea of placing a fire station and an ambulance station across the railroad tracks, but due to volunteers and the problem of full-time employees, it was a no-go.
It was after some time when it became clear there was a needed solution to this issue that the Chamber of Commerce meeting was held, and the alternatives were introduced.
“But the more I thought about it, I’m thinking, ‘this is the only way to do it,’” Larson said. “This is the only way to do it, because, for the economics of our city, you’re gonna put two more corners out here on the highway.”
In Larson’s thought process, he explained how this would be a way to bring more to the city, economically, that is. He gave potentials such as Taco Bell, Braum's or a motel.
“I want to see the town grow, and I want to see it with good growth,” Larson said.
As for “the road to nowhere,” and what the people of Mannford call it, according to Larson, due to the thought that no one will use it.
“When your train gets so damn long that it’s going to block two crossings, building a road doesn’t solve a damn thing,” he said. “Because now, sure, you can get out of the Basin, but now you’re going to go north on 48, you got to go all the way out there to the 64 highway before you can go anywhere else.
“So, I figure, you know, this is kind of ridiculous. Why are we going to spend $10 million, and it’s become known in the city, as the road to nowhere.”
According to ODOT, the project is currently in Phase 1 (Planning and Engineering). The initial federal funds are dedicated to project management, stakeholder engagement and preliminary engineering studies on the BNSF Avard Subdivision.
Engineers and local officials are currently evaluating potential solutions to eliminate the severe, recurring traffic delays.
“As far as my hopes would be to be smart and work smart, and not base the choice on what may be the cheapest, which is almost always the wrong choice,” Campbell said. “Although not the cheapest, but the smartest and most citizen friendly is a bridge over the railroad tracks. Again life safety being the most impactful in that it makes the access to life saving services the closest and fastest possible point of care as opposed to a road to nowhere that is farther away from everything except a big circle around a broken train.”
However, plans and engineering are still underway, and finalities have yet to be made.
“Once a final direction is chosen, ODOT and the City of Mannford will establish concrete cost estimates. These estimates will be used to apply for larger federal construction grants to fund the physical building phase,” Long said.