Train horns, and closing of 5th Avenue at Atwood Street

You may recall we fought for many (10+) years to silence the train horn through our neighborhood–and we thought we had won the battle! –But that was several years ago, and it seems like nothing has happened. However, the city has committed $4 million to the project, a federal grant has brought in $4 million more, and the city has been working on this behind the scenes, with hopes to finally get started with construction of quiet zones this fall. Quiet zone RR crossings are upgraded railroad crossings with so many gates that it is safe for trains to cross the road without a horn for a warning. Construction in the fall of 2023 is to start on 3rd Avenue, Longs Peak Avenue, and 9th Avenue, as well as on 17th Avenue. It will probably continue into the spring of 2024. In 2024, quiet zone crossings are to be constructed at 4th and 6th Avenue, as well as 21st St. In 2025 they hope to improve crossings at Main St, Coffman St, Terry St, and Mountain View. In 2026, they will work on Hover St and Highway 66 crossings–note that our neighborhood has been prioritized for earlier improvements, as we have the most crossings and will therefore have the largest neighborhood impact–and we made the most noise about the problem! (pun intended)

The downside is that the city plans to close 5th Avenue rather than build a quiet zone-compliant crossing there, as the final part of this project, in 2026. This is because (with the growth of the city) there are plans for a new east-west arterial road that will require a new train track crossing–and the city has to give up 2 old crossings in order to build 1 new one, according to the Public Utilities Commission and BNSF. City councilmember Tim Waters protested this to the PUC, to no avail. (Plans are in place to also close the crossing on Terry St next to 1st Avenue).The city’s informative infopage on all of this can be seen at bit.ly/quiet-zones. You can learn how we got here on the webpage https://longmontpublicmedia.org/video/2021/01/31/the-backstory-on-train-noise-and-quiet-zones-in-longmont/ Note that the city invites you to protest this 2-for-1 decision with the public utilities commission, and provides the PUC address on their infopage.