VALPARAISO | Those things that go "Bump!" in the night or the day, the Canadian National Railroad crossings, should be smoothed out by the end of June.

Public Works Director Bill Oeding said the city sent the railroad a letter last fall about the condition of the crossings, and railroad officials inspected them twice.

"They agreed," Oeding said. "In fact, they were quite up front about it that the crossings were in bad shape. Their challenge is the volume of train traffic is quite heavy, and they could have a couple hundred cars. The tracks are busy, and they take a beating."

Work will start with closing Sturdy Road crossing Monday through Thursday. The Roosevelt Road crossing will be closed beginning May 27 and be reopened by the weekend. After that, the railroad will begin doing two crossings a week starting with Calumet Avenue and Washington Street the second week of June.

Although the Calumet crossing was done last year, it was a temporary fix and did not involve rebuilding the base, Oeding said. The crossings at Franklin and Lafayette streets will be done the following week.

Hank Ludvigsen, a CN track supervisor, said the crossings on Froberg Road and on Ind. 130 also will be repaired by the end of June.

The work includes replacing portions of the track and ties for a distance in each direction at each crossing. The railroad also will regrade and upgrade the drainage where needed. Ludvigsen said the repairs should last six or seven years for a single track and about twice as long at a double track.

"We're pleased to see the improvements begin, and we'll do all we can to minimize the disruptions to traffic," Oeding said. "Our inconvenience will be short term, but we'll be rewarded with smoother crossings over the long term."