COLUMBUS, Neb. — The Columbus Committee of the Whole decided Monday night that renewing talks about a viaduct and safer crossings was premature, and should not be held until council members have some idea of why the viaduct was voted down at the November election, according to the Columbus Telegram.
The board held a meeting at 5:30 p.m. Monday, but tabled the discussion and took the issue off the city council’s agenda after only 15 minutes of discussion.
“It seems we are in somewhat of a stalemate, a quandary,” Council President Dennis Duffy said at the meeting.
Many of the council members believe the viaduct was voted down because the state would have required the city to close most of its at-grade crossings in order to receive funding for construction. While voters may have been in favor of a viaduct, support may have waned if it came at the cost of closed crossings.
Also raised at the meeting was the possibility of going to an automated horn system, and installing gates at crossings that vehicles could not drive around.
The automated horns – installed at the crossings – replace the horns on the locomotives, reducing noise pollution.
However, the Union Pacific Railroad Co. has placed a stop on the installation of directional horns until the Federal Railroad Administration approves them.
Ron Ries, staff director for crossing safety and trespass prevention at the FRA, said Monday that there are only 37 directional horns installed out of about 250,000 at-grade crossings in the country. Some of those horns are in Gering and Kearney.
The FRA is comparing crossing safety in those 10 communities that have the horns, with those that still rely on the train whistle blowing as it comes through town.
“Fifty percent of at-grade crossing collisions are happening at crossings that have automatic warning devices” such as gates and lights, Ries said.
Thus far, the administration has found three main problems regarding the horns, all of which focus on what Ries termed “human factor” issues:
The directional horn volume is less than the minimum required by a locomotive horn. Ries said there is a 98 percent decrease in neighborhood noise with the horns.
There is a loss of directionality with the directional horn, in that it does not give drivers an indication of the direction the train is coming. The lack of a locomotive horn also affects a driver’s ability to gauge the speed of the oncoming train.
Drivers who ignore current automatic warning systems may also ignore the directional horn when deciding whether or not to drive around the gates.
The FRA is expected to release its findings some time in the first three months of this year. Because it is still experimental, communities wishing to install such devices would need an experimental designation from the Federal Highway Administration to install them, and would likely need to complete an evaluation study, as well, Ries said.
Councilman Mike Fleming has scheduled a town hall meeting at 7 p.m. Feb. 13 at his business, Mike’s Auto Sales, 3320 19th St., to discuss with voters why they defeated the viaduct and what action they would like to see taken concerning the crossings. Southside residents are especially encouraged to attend.