The Council's Public Safety Committee met Monday afternoon to discuss a subject I had placed on the agenda: railroad quiet zones. Other cities now have ordinances that prohibit or control the horn blasts from locomotives approaching railroad crossings and maybe it is time for Garland to join them.

 
For me, and I think everyone, the first concern must be safety. Not very many years ago, several deaths at crossings along Lavon Hwy were from car-train wrecks. It would make sense that quieting the horns would be more dangerous. Federal law until not long ago pre-empted a community's ability to legislate any control. Meanwhile, other federal laws required that the horns be louder, by ten decibels. Then I read that quiet zones could be safer. I was a skeptic but I asked to the Council to review such zones and how other cities with such ordinances were faring.

 
Robert Wunderlich, Managing Director of Transportation, presented a recap of the work his department has been doing for quite some time, much longer than my request. There are very strict guidelines that a city must follow to make crossings safe before it would be allowed to quiet the horns, but it is possible. And better news: safety upgrades in the last few years have pushed Garland well along that track.

 
A number of methods can be used, but crossings must have lights, gates, and other safety devices in place. Crossing safety can be increased for one-way streets (gates block the whole intersection and cannot be easily manuevered around). Adding medians can also restrict driving around the gates. There are other methods and devices to increase safety but the requirement for increased safety remains paramount.

 
A whole route through Garland could be quietened or just sections. The transporation department will continue to study the issue and has hired a consulting firm that was involved with the draft of the federal regulations to give us guidance. The elements of each crossing, safety features, number of cars, train and car traffic times, and other data will need to be collected. That part of the process may take another six months.

 
Then we'll review what we have learned, see if we've reached or can reach the safety levels required, and then we'll learn if things are going to be quieter in Garland.

 
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2 comments

Comments:

Comment from: Elisabeth [Visitor]

We are Garland residents, living in the downtown area very near the tracks. We like the train horns, our children love to hear them at night, and I hope they stay. :)

12/14/07 @ 13:52

Comment from: Bruce [Visitor] · http://www.fairwaysatfirewheel.org

The cities of Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, Irving, Murphy, Plano, and Richardson have already established Quiet Zones where trains are prohibited from blowing their horns. The Federal Railroad Administration documented the process for cities to create Quiet Zones two years ago at: http://www.fra.dot.gov/us/content/1318.

If the City of Garland is still studying the issue, then Garland is way behind other local cities. Murphy is the latest city to establish a Quiet Zone as published in the Dallas Morning News Metro section on Thursday, 12/27/2007.

The noise issue for residents of Firewheel is the stretch of the KCS railroad along Lavon Dr. between Murphy Rd. and Naaman School Rd. where trains blow their horns loudly at all hours of day and night. We would like the City of Garland to make specific plans for improving the railroad crossings at Naaman School Rd. and Murphy Rd. to qualify for a Quiet Zone.

12/28/07 @ 21:34

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