Quiet Zone a go for Sealy, Texas

February 14, 2001 Sealy, Texas, 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, the Sealy News reports.

Sealy City Council
members 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 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 could 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 total budget for the
project is $200,000, although costs could come in less than planned.

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."