“Union Pacific was notified of a potential issue at this crossing on Wednesday morning,” said Calli Hite, director of corporate communications. “We are reviewing our processes and protocols to determine where we can enhance future response times. We sincerely apologize to the community and impacted drivers.”

Mike Kenyon, Webster County sheriff’s deputy, reported that Union Pacific has since repaired the damages to the crossing and traffic is successfully using the roadway.

Ann Marie Poppen-Schossow, of Manson, was taken to the hospital after hitting a piece of concrete from the crossing at 4:50 p.m. Wednesday.

According to witnesses, her red Toyota caught the piece of concrete, which was part of the crossing, and flipped forward.

Poppen-Schossow was initially transported to UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center before later being taken to Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines.

The accident left Poppen-Schossow with multiple injuries, according to her daughter, Caitlin Poppen.

Poppen-Schossow suffered a broken left wrist, sternum, and L4 vertebrae, Caitlin Poppen reported. Caitlin Poppen also said her mother has multiple bruises and contusions.

Earlier the same day, Richard Meyer’s van was heavily damaged when he was driving over the same crossing at 3:15 p.m., according to his wife, Deanna Meyer.

The Manson man swerved to miss the protruding piece of concrete, Deanna Meyer said.

“Richard saw the concrete at the last minute, at first thinking it was a 4-by-4 in the road, tried to avoid it, but had to swerve back because of oncoming traffic,” she said. “He blew two tires, rims, broke his struts and his tie rod.”

A witness to that accident, Skye Anderson, said she stayed on scene to help direct traffic to avoid more incidents until someone from the sheriff’s department arrived.

“A semi went over it after Richard, and put the piece back in place temporarily,” Deanna Meyer said. “That driver blew a tire, which went up and blew out his brake lines.”

The railroad is responsible for keeping the crossing surface in good working order, said Philip Meraz, with the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Office of Rail.

“In this case it’s a new crossing, just put in a couple years ago,” he said.

While the railroad has the responsibility, the DOT has a program providing funds to help keep them in shape.

“We work with the railroads on all the primary roads,” Meraz said. “For nonprimary roads, county roads or city streets, we have a program for that too.”

The railroads also replace some crossings with no assistance, of course, he added.

“That is the railroad’s property area there. In most cases, the railroads were there first, and our road goes over the railroad,” Meraz said.

The crossing on Highway 7 was redone in 2015 under that primary road program, he said.

When state funds are used to repair a crossing, there’s a DOT staff member who works with the railway to ensure work is done to DOT roadway standards.

There’s no sign-off process required when the crossings are done by the railroad itself, he said.

“If is not an adequate crossing surface, they will hear from us,” he said. “There are times when the crossing panel will have issues, and we take care of it very quickly.”

The accident Wednesday was surprising, Meraz said.

“When something like this happens, we usually hear about it very quick,” he said. “But this one happened so quickly.”

Meraz said problems with a crossing that are not an emergency can be directed to the city, county or DOT, depending on the road.

How to find railroad crossing emergency number

The quickest way to deal with any dangerous situation at a railroad crossing is calling the emergency number next to the crossing, according to Philip Meraz, with the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Office of Rail.

“There is a blue sign at every single railroad crossing now. There is a phone number on that, as well as a crossing identifier,” Meraz said. “If you call that number you are calling directly to that railroad’s dispatch, or emergency center. You tell them that crossing identification number, and within seconds they know where you are, and they can dispatch emergency operations if need be.”

That’s for any type of dangerous situation, such as a car stalled or hung up on the tracks, he said.

For more information on nonemergency complaints or questions about crossings, refer to iowadot.gov/iowarail.