LIVERMORE FALLS — The entire railroad crossing on Main Street/Route 17 is going to be replaced, Town Manager Stephen Gould told selectmen on Tuesday.

The town has received dozens of complaints about the condition of the crossing.

Repairs were done to that section this past winter to fix some damage, but things only got worse, Gould said. He called Pan Am Railways and representatives came out to look at it last week, he said.

The rubber that is usually put down to provide a smoother ride over the tracks and protect the crossing was missing, Gould said.

Both the Maine Department of Transportation and the town will assist in the project, Gould said.

A date has not been set for the repair. There will be a detour around the area but people will be able to access the businesses in another way. The repair on the Bridge Street/Route 4 railroad crossing in October only took two days, he said.

Selectman Jeff Bryant asked if it was possible to have a caution sign put on both sides of the track.

Gould said he would ask the state about it since it is a state road.

“I saw two motorcycles that didn’t slow down at the crossing. I thought they were not going to make it,” Bryant said, referring to them possibly being thrown from the bikes.

In another matter, the Town Office will open an hour earlier as it eases back to its regular hours. Starting Monday, the hours will be 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The usual hours before COVID-19 restrictions went into place were 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Gould told selectmen that a town employee was believed to have been exposed to a contractor who ended up testing positive to COVID-19. The initial response was to have the employee self-quarantine. During the investigation it was determined that the contractor never left the truck he was in during the interaction.

After contacting the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Gould followed the guidelines given and the employee was allowed to return to work. In an unrelated case, a second employee exhibited some symptoms of the coronavirus, including a cough and fever, and the employee was quarantined. The person was tested and it came back negative and he was allowed to return to work, he said.

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