In the 10 years Jacob Love lived at Oak and DeSoto streets, he saw cars zoom past his house near rail tracks on Oak Street where tracks are shielded only by flashing lights and, hopefully, the good sense of the driver.

Now, Love rents the house out and looks forward to seeing gates protect the crossing where Mulberry turns into Oak.

&#8220They needed something right there,” Love said. &#8220I see about three trains a day pass there.”

As part of the Mississippi Department of Transportation’s Railroad Grade Crossing Safety Program, the state agency announced Wednesday a partnership with Kansas City Southern Railway to install a new barrier and warning system at the crossing.

&#8220I am glad to see this much-needed upgrade coming to fruition,” MDOT Central District Commissioner Dick Hall said in a statement. &#8220Safety is a top priority, and anything we can do to promote safety at railroad crossings is a plus.”

The commission OK’d more than $2.8 million in railroad-related projects statewide as part of the program designed to reduce the number of accidents involving motorists and trains.

Residents of neighborhoods within a few blocks of the project said while the gates are needed, other changes are, too. Crossings that parallel Pearl Street’s intersections with Klein and Speed present safety and noise hazards, they said.

&#8220It’s good they’re doing something constructive, but they need to do something with that one,” said Speed Street resident Bertha Henyard, pointing toward Pearl Street, separated from the rest of the neighborhood by KCS rail tracks.

At two of the five bed-and-breakfast inns nearby, owners said the railroad itself presents a problem.

&#8220It’s the bane of my existence,” said Carolyn Stephenson, operator of Annabelle at 501 Speed St.

The roaring sounds of the trains at night, along with their heavy loads, keep her from scheduling events at the house, part of the city’s Garden District.

&#8220There’s light bulbs that shake and pictures that fall off the wall,” Stephenson said.

Around the corner at Belle of the Bends, operator Mary Lee is even less impressed with news of the Oak Street crossing upgrade, saying at least one Internet travel forum now warns tourists not to stay at any bed and breakfast in Vicksburg near any rail tracks.

&#8220They rattle light bulbs loose. They stop on the tracks to do changeovers and I’ve seen children run between the cars,” Lee said.

&#8220I had a lifelong dream of owning a bed and breakfast, but my biggest obstacles to doing that are the city and KCS,” Lee said, adding area bed and breakfast owners have been told by local officials for at least two years that crossings in the area would be closed completely. The rumbling would continue, but train horns would no longer be sounded if the crossings were closed.

Hesitance to limit crossings, however, arises from fears that emergency vehicles would have a harder time responding to calls west of the tracks.

For more than 10 years, the notion of looping trains through a new route south of the city has been an on-again, off-again discussion. The Legislature gave the Warren County Board of Supervisors permission to create a railroad commission with eminent domain authority to create a new route, but supervisors declined to do so, citing potential objections from property owners along any new route.

Meanwhile, KCS has been increasing traffic and improving area lines – all in anticipation of even more trains.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration, Mississippi ranked 10th in the nation in 2006 in the number of railroad crossing incidents with 82, with 13 fatalities.

Incidents in Vicksburg the government cites include one on Court Street in May and on Depot Street in July. No incidents were reported at the Oak Street crossing.

Other MDOT actions this week regarding rail crossings included approval of improvements at seven grade crossings in Clinton, as per an agreement between KCS and city fathers.

Another closure at Vernon Street in Clinton was OK’d, with that city to be paid $25,000 out of a grade crossing closure fund.