Press Releases

For Immediate Release • October 7, 2009
Staff Contact: Nick Wolfrum, Director, City Engineer, 303-651-8307
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Council Approves Plan to Pursue Preliminary Engineering Design for Railroad Quiet Zones

OCTOBER 7, 2009 - The Longmont City Council recently approved a plan to pursue a preliminary engineering design for railroad quiet zones.

A quiet zone is a section of a rail line, at least one-half mile in length, containing one or more public crossing at which locomotive horns would not routinely be sounded. Outside of quiet zones, federal regulations currently require that trains sound their horns with two long blasts, one short blast, and one long blast prior to crossing any public roadway crossings. The train horn must be sounded at least 15 seconds, but no more than 20 seconds before the locomotive enters the crossing. Thousands of households in Longmont are within a ½ mile radius of a roadway crossing.

The City’s Public Works and Natural Resources Department staff have been reviewing the options of establishing quiet zones in Longmont based on Council direction in October of 2008. On September 1, 2009, the City Council approved a project to move forward with the preliminary engineering design for railroad quiet zones in Longmont for the 12 existing railroad crossings not included in the RTD Northwest Rail Project.

This effort would include:

Coordination and crossing review with BNSF Railway, the Federal Railroad Administration, the Public Utility Commission, and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT).
Development of conceptual designs and cost estimates for each crossing.
Implementation of a Public Involvement Process to obtain community input on the project.
Final design for any crossings that Longmont wants to pursue in an initial phase.

This design effort will be paid for from the Street Fund, not the City’s General Fund, at a cost of approximately $150,000. Funding would come from cost savings achieved from 2009 Street Fund Capital Projects.

While the City currently does not have any funding programmed for implementing Quiet Zones, knowing the required improvements and estimated cost at each site can be taken into account as the City plans any street rehabilitation in these areas. At certain crossings we anticipate that Quiet Zones could be implemented for the $25,000 cost of concrete medians. By having this preliminary design work completed, we may be able to install the medians in conjunction with scheduled adjacent roadwork. In addition, if state or federal grant funding options become available, this information will be valuable in applying for these funds.

For more information about the project, contact the Public Works and Natural Resources Engineering Services Division at 303-651-8304 ot to see the staff report to the City Council go to http://www.ci.longmont.co.us/city_council/agendas/2009/documents/SS6.pdf

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