HOUSTON — Days after the death of a Milby High School student who died trying to cross train tracks, Houston Mayor John Whitmire proposed putting in place a pedestrian bridge — or skywalk — to help students trying to get to the school safely.
15-year-old Sergio Rodriguez was struck and killed by a train while walking to school on Monday morning.
The death sparked discussion at Houston City Council on Wednesday, starting with a moment of silence.
"It's got to stop," Mayor John Whitmire said. "It's just preventable."
Whitmire is now proposing a pedestrian bridge to be constructed near Milby High School in order to address student safety in the future.
The mayor said the estimated cost is set to be $6.5 million.
"Students ought to be able to cross the track safely to get into Milby High and that's my objective," Whitmire told KHOU 11 News in an interview following the council's meeting.
The mayor said he would speak with Union Pacific's CEO to call on the company to help pay for construction.
"Do the right thing, we can do it the easy way or the hard way," Whitmire said. "Easy way would be I’ll allow them to take credit for this crossing. Number two, if not, we're going to keep talking but we're not, I'm not going away."
A major obstacle, the mayor said, is getting permission from Union Pacific to build the bridge as federal law protects Union Pacific's right of way.
"I can only do what I can as mayor to control what we can control and we're going to do our best to get a safe crossing," Whitmire said.
KHOU 11 reached out to Union Pacific for a response to the mayor's comments but has not heard back yet.
Council discussion
Councilmembers lamented Rodriguez's death and said the issue of dangerous railroad crossings has plagued Houston for years.
"It's definitely past due where we continue to have these conversations about policies that don't get us anywhere," District I Councilmember Joaquin Martinez said.
Martinez said his office has identified 35 "critical crossings" across the city that also need infrastructure to make them safer. That includes things like grade separations along with projects like pedestrian bridges.
Others, like Councilmember Julian Ramirez, believe groups like Union Pacific need to step up.
"We need to find the resources to do this," Ramirez said. "Union Pacific needs to be a better neighbor."