(The following story by Ashley Tompkins appeared on the Sealy News website on June 17, 2010.)
AUSTIN COUNTY, Texas — Sealy residents could hear a few less trains blow their horns while passing through town within a year as the city moves forward with plans to construct a quiet zone stretching the length of the city.
Sealy City Council members last week approved the city moving forward with O’Malley Engineers, LLP, to oversee the design of the project, and construction once plans are approved by the Federal Railway Administration.
“This has been a long time coming,” said Sealy Mayor Nick Tirey. “I’m looking forward to this.”
An estimated 42 trains make their way through town each day along the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) rail line, blowing their horns essentially continuously from the time they enter the city limits until they leave.
The noise nuisance has been a problem for years, and city officials are hoping to alleviate the problem with a little concrete, additional railroad cross arms and safety wayside horns.
The project is essentially traffic control, and although O’Malley Engineers has little experience with creating quiet zones as do most engineers, it does have extensive experience in controlling the flow of traffic.
Trains pass through town ever 30 minutes, on average, city officials said.
And for those living or working near the railroad tracks, the sound of a train blowing its whistle during its entire trip through town may be the onset of a headache.
Trains are required to blow their whistle a quarter of a mile before each crossing.
With so many crossings close to one another in the city, BNSF trains – traveling north and south in the city – end up blowing their whistle for most of their trip.
The train whistle is meant to alert drivers that a train is approaching, but city officials say there are other steps that could be taken to alert drivers – namely creating concrete medians in several intersections along the train’s path that would hinder drivers from weaving through the cross arms when they are down – while doing away with the blaring noise.
The city plans to address all intersections from Jurica Road north of town to downtown Main Street utilizing concrete median channelization – a concrete median that would limit the direction vehicles could pass when cross arms are down.
The city plans to hold off on improvements to Jurica Road until the current widening of State Highway 36 is completed.
Sealy City Manager Chris Coffman said the work at that intersection can be done at a later date. It could be months before a project design is complete and approved by the FRA.
“The number one criteria when you develop a quiet zone is maintaining safety and if there’s something that isn’t safe about putting off Jurica Road, we need to look at that. We need to investigate it,” Coffman said. “I don’t have a problem with not (doing it), but the residents at Maler Road are not going to reap the benefits of what we’re trying to do.”
The city needs roughly 60 to 100 feet of space at each intersection for the median, but that space isn’t available at all locations, Coffman said, specifically naming Hill Street.
Hill Street could be made one-way eastward from the train tracks to the road’s intersection with Silliman Street, but no decision has been made, and city officials have said hearings would be held on the issue first before moving forward with a permanent fix.
Traffic east of Silliman would return to two-way.
The total budget for the project is $200,000, although costs could come in less than planned.
At Kersten Street, which runs below Interstate Highway 10, the only option is to add five wayside horns or two cross arms to form a four-quad crossing gate. In its future frontage road plans, the Texas Department of Public Safety plans to eliminate the Kersten Street intersection.
Still, improvements must be made if the quiet zone is expected to work.
At Overcreek Way, the city is looking at wayside horns, a four-quad gate or possibly closing the intersection all together since it could be deemed a private crossing.
Possible closings might also happen north of town where the BNSF and Union Pacific rails cross East Front Street and Old San Felipe.
Plans for a quiet zone were one of the more popular projects proposed under the city’s 20-year comprehensive plan.
Approval passed by all council members, with the exception of Mark Stolarski, who objected to O’Malley being paid 15 percent the cost as their fee and the engineering firm’s ownership of drawings and plans.
He also voiced concern the city would not be able to get out of its contract if plans, for whatever reason, are not approved by the FRA.
There is a clause in the contract that allows either party to terminate the contract with a 30-day notice.
“We’re not going to build anything or pay him for construction until we have approval. We have to plan it before we can submit it for approval,” Coffman said.
“If we don’t get approval, we get out and we move on to another project,” Tirey added. “This all should happen within a year.”