CAIRO — City officials are advising residents to plan accordingly as efforts to smooth a bumpy downtown railroad crossing will see traffic along Cairo’s main thoroughfare blocked off.

Repairs to the Broad Street railroad crossing began Monday morning and are expected to last through Tuesday evening at the latest, according to City Manager Chris Addleton.

“They’re going to be grinding up the old asphalt and laying new asphalt,” Addleton said. “It should be a lot smoother.”

Complaints from drivers regarding the crossing had begun to pile up after a series of upgrades were made in December to allow for faster train speeds. City officials say the work done to the Broad Street crossing left it in a worse condition than before.

“It was very rough, especially comparing it to the other eight crossings they did in the City of Cairo,” Addleton said. “It was obvious to me that there was something wrong with it.”

Initially seeking help from CSX Transportation, the company that owns the track itself, Addleton was informed that no faults could be found with the crossing. With CSX owning the immediate space surrounding the tracks, any repairs made to the crossing would have to be paid for on the city’s dime with a CSX-approved contractor.

Addleton met last week with Van Gandy, a representative from Utilco Railroad Services, the contractor that upgraded the CSX crossings in December, who admitted that the Broad Street crossing was not completed properly. According to Gandy, the asphalt used for the crossing was a “binder” asphalt rather than a “finish” asphalt, which does not compact as well.

Gandy offered to mobilize a Utilco crew to repair the crossing at no cost to the city.

“He was very nice and he jumped on it,” Addleton said of Gandy. “I want to give him kudos.”