Friday, Sep. 12, 2008

Quiet zone slated for end of 2009

Imagine having a conversation in downtown Olathe without being interrupted by annoying train whistles.

It’s hard to do so when 88 trains pass over 11 at-grade crossings each day while sounding their horns for 20-second intervals. That’s more than five hours of train noise a day.

Fortunately, people downtown won’t have to think about what could be for much longer. Phil Estes, a project engineer for the city, said the whistles would be silenced by the end of next year.

The city’s been working with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway for three years on an agreement to create a “quiet zone,” which requires adding safety measures at railroad crossings to allow trains to pass without sounding their horns.

Estes said it took so long to reach an agreement because Olathe’s was one of the first quiet zones the company considered and the “biggest one that they’ve ever tackled.”

To make the crossings safe enough for the Federal Railroad Administration to designate the quiet zone, the city had three options: install a four-quadrant-style gate system, add raised medians or close them.

The city elected to add medians to crossings at Woodland Road; Harold, Mulberry and Loula streets; and Dennis Avenue. Four-quadrant gate systems will be installed at Park, Elm and Santa Fe streets. The crossings at Prairie, Poplar and Cedar streets will be closed.

A 6-foot-tall fence will be added between Elm and Mulberry streets to discourage pedestrian crossing except where designated.

Councilmember Bob Montgomery asked if any of the closings included taking nearby property. Estes said the $5.6 million project included some funding for that but said the goal, if possible, was to leave businesses and residents near the Prairie, Poplar and Cedar crossings undisturbed.

Project funding also includes $300,000 from the state and $150,000 from BNSF for closing the three crossings. The remaining project costs will be covered by the city.

Estes said if the current timetable holds up, BNSF will complete its modifications by next summer. He said the city’s street work would follow and the FRA designation could be in place before 2010.

Estes said that after the quiet zone is complete, the city would explore options for creating quiet zones at the Dennis Avenue, 151st Terrace and 159th Street crossings, the last on the east main line within Olathe city limits. He said creating quiet zones at four crossings along Southgate Street would be difficult.

“We took a chunk out of the problem,” Councilmember Marge Vogt said. “There’s minimal left.”

BNSF spokesman Steve Forsberg said the quiet zone became possible after new federal regulations that took effect in 2005 requiring uniform criteria for quiet zones. Before that, he said, each state had its own statute regarding trains sounding their whistles as they passed through crossings and could institute quiet zones without increased safety measures.

Forsberg said several hundred communities of the more than 3,000 on their network were seriously considering or pursuing quiet zones.

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