'quiet zones' being investigated

By Carol Cole-Frowe

Transcript Staff Writer

Greg Jungman loves and hates the couple of dozen trains that go through Norman daily.

"I think it's both," said the Miller Historic District resident, who made peace with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe trains when he moved about a block and a half from the train tracks. "But there is a certain point when it gets to be too much."

Like at 3 a.m., when a particularly vigorous toot rocks him out of bed.

Those window-rattling, ear-splitting, ground-rumbling train whistles could get a lot quieter, with Norman investigating the possibility of "quiet zones" at the city's 17 railroad crossings, where trains would be prohibited from sounding their horns except in emergencies. The about five miles of crossings stretch from Indian Hills Road on the north to Post Oak Road on the south.

Norman Traffic Engineer Angelo Lombardo detailed at Tuesday's city council conference what it would take for Norman to become a "quiet zone," which probably would be the first or second in Oklahoma. The City of Tulsa is investigating quiet zones as well.

To qualify for "quiet zones," communities must equip proposed grade crossings with adequate safety measures to overcome the decrease in safety created by silencing the train horns, Lombardo said.

Quiet zones are made possible by a change in federal law in 2005. Whistle blowing is mandated by the federal government, and requires trains to blow their whistles 15 seconds before the lead locomotive passes through a crossing if they are traveling at 60 mph or less. Failure to blow a train horn adequately subjects the crew to personal violations or fines from the Federal Railroad Administration or FRA.

There are about 300 quiet zones nationally, with 28 along BNSF's more than 32,000-mile network and 27,000 grade crossings.

The City of Norman is in a good position to become a "quiet zone," silencing the two longs, a short and one long train whistle at each crossing, Lombardo said.

The City spent about $2 million about 10 years ago to modernize crossing controls and surfaces. Norman crossings feature new constant warning circuitry and gated protection and active devices at each crossing.

And the City plans to straighten the Duffy Street Railroad Crossing and put in an underpass at the Robinson Street Crossing from a general obligation bond vote March 29, 2005.

Right-of-way acquisition is expected to begin in May for the Robinson Street project. The project, which will allow ambulances and other vehicles to cross under the railroad tracks at Robinson Street, is a $27.2 million joint venture between the City of Norman, Oklahoma Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration.

Some of the remedial measures that could be used to supplement other crossings include four-quadrant gate systems, one-way streets with gates, gates with medians or channelization devices, wayside horns, temporary closures and permanent closures.

The four-quadrant system would cost about $100,000 to install two additional gates at a crossing already equipped with two-quadrant gates.

Gates with medians or channelization devices prevent drivers from circumventing the approach lane gates by switching into the opposing traffic lane and driving around gates.

The channelization would need to extend 100 feet from the gate arm or, if an intersection, at least 60 feet from the gate arm. Cost would be about $11,000.

Wayside horns are a stationery horn system mounted to the crossing. The horns sound like a train horn, but can reduce noise up to 98 percent and are the simplest way to reduce train horn noise when a corridor is not eligible for a quiet zone. Cost is about $100,000.

Other costs could be street modification, utility impact, landscaping and long-term maintenance costs.

To become a quiet zone, the City would have to apply to the Federal Railroad Administration and work with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation and Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway company.

It's estimated that it would take about 18 months to implement a "quiet zone."

Lombardo said the next step would be to meet with the FRA to determine eligibility. A diagnostic team inspection with BNSF and FRA would identify which supplemental safety measures would be required.

And Norman would get a whole lot quieter.

Carol Cole-Frowe

366-3538

ccole@normantranscript.com