Quiet zone could be at risk
October 11, 2011 at 1:46 am in The Jamestown Sun
If drivers and pedestrians don’t start obeying the traffic laws, Jamestown may never get a quiet zone.
“If, as this project finishes up and we put in to formally request a quiet zone from (Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway) if the railroad feels that the citizens aren’t complying, we’ll have spent all that money for nothing they won’t discontinue the horn,” said Reed Schwartzkopf, Jamestown city engineer.
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This project is proving to be a waste of money and an inconvenience to everyone.
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Drivers will always try to get around the rules. This “quiet zone” is a joke anyway. If they want a real quiet zone, how about moving the race tracks out of town about 10 miles or more, since they are located right by residents – now that is NOISE, which I can hear out by the airport and beyond.
It used to be the trains were to blow the whistles much quieter, then some state law went into effect that they need to blow them LOUD. Even the guys on the train don’t like the noise, they have to wear ear protection. Why not just put the law back to where they lower the tone of the whistles and forget all this “quiet zone” nonsense and the waste of city money. I knew it wouldn’t be long before someone would have to cross around those barriers – it’s the darker side of human nature – no one likes rules.
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So is a coffin.
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Wow, really? Come on… these people can’t drive an extra fifty feet to take a U-turn? I understand it’s a HUGE inconvenience to drive another six seconds out of your way but give it a chance. Also, how dare they make a walkway “maze” so you don’t get blasted by a train? The nerve.
Is change really that frightening that some people would jeopardize the benefit of these quiet zones? I don’t understand it.
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We were doing just fine making left hand turns there for years and train horns sounding off. The trains have been coming through town for longer than anyone has lived here, and nobody is living here against their free will.
The quiet zone is a joke- waste of our money for something we don’t want. I saw two young children walking across the tracks no where near any cross walk. At least with the horns blowing we are all aware a train is coming. I take different roads through town depending if I here the horn or not- horn means I head to the underpass, no horn I head for the short-cut.
Second, the road signs that “everybody is ignoring” went up a week or so ago- about 6-8 weeks after our little deer trail was blocked by a median. We figured out our own way to continue to take our road long before the signs ever went up. So enough of the high and mighty crying from the city office.
The left turn is 6 feet earlier than it used to be so stop making it sound like irresponsible citizens are playing chicken with BNSF driving down the tracks.
The good news is a year from now we all will have formed a new habit way of navigating through the intersection that the city blocked.
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I think you missed the point, “mayor”. The quiet zone will benefit the city by making it “quiet”, not safer. The quiet zone never boasted to make the city safer. It WOULD make the city safer if we had chosen to put the double sided arms on the roadways, but obviously we didn’t want to pay that much. In the cases that quiet zones have been established, they have been well received.
An approaching train isn’t that hard to hear. We don’t need the horn that loud anyway. Sadly, not everyone is smart enough to be safe.
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This post is the exact attitude that I was tired of when I lived in Jamestown.
Another thing I was sick of was these trains blasting through town and hearing horns from what seemed like 8pm-3am straight. Good luck sleeping in the summertime, you can’t have the windows open to enjoy a cool night, it just wasn’t possible unless you are able to magically shut off your hearing.
Listen, I get it… if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That’s how YOU feel. That’s how YOU’VE been living with it for X amount of years. When new people come into town, however, these things that you’ve been dealing with and compromising for are annoyances to them.
I don’t know how things get any better in your city if the overall attitude is “Eh… good enough”.
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^Referring to Mayor’s post.
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Never said or thought the quiet zone would make anything safer, in fact I believe it is less safe with a quiet zone. But that is not my main point either.
My point is that the quiet zone is expensive and unnecessary. I hear the trains loud and clear and not only do I not mind them, I enjoy them. They are part of our community, they aren’t something that has just showed up, surprised everybody, and we need to get rid of for $365k.
That is my point, in addition to throwing the yellow flag on the whining coming from General Swartzkopf about irresponsible law breaking citizens- the signs went up a week or so ago, long after the median went in.
The verdict is still out on the U-turn option too. Won’t vehicles be holding up west-bound traffic ON the BNSF super highway while they are waiting on on-coming east-bound traffic before making the U-turn to go south down 12th?
Make it a great day.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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I’m relatively new to town, so not living in a “eh, way it’s been, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” mode.
I’m just surprised people buy a house next to train tracks and then wake up that first night wondering where the heck that train came from?
Twenty-six trains a day come through town, so unless people spent less than an hour in town house shopping they should have heard a train.
People are of their own free will to choose where they set up their fort. There are MANY options not next to or near tracks.
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I think it goes without saying that buying or renting a place near the tracks is a bad move. You have to know what’s in store for you in that regard.
We were away from the trains yet still were still annoyed by the insanely loud horns, and never got used to them. Just an absolute nuisance, no matter where you are.
I just cannot pretend that keeping blaring horns is better than getting rid of them.
Also, as for the signs– whether or not the warning signs were there for a week or a minute, common sense should dictate that you shouldn’t drive over a median or on the wrong side of the road, even if it is for a few feet.
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You don’t have to drive over the median, how about you go take a look at that intersection at the bottom of the hillcrest hill. No driving OVER a median involved or driving on the wrong side of the road. You should familiarize yourself with something before commenting so as to not look silly!! As mayor said if this intersection and turning left were such a big deal they should have #1 put up signs right away, #2 extended the median.
As far as the quiet zone being a waste of monye, I AGREE, 300 and some thousand for that?????????????
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My mistake, the article reads that people are taking an illegal left turn “by driving directly onto the path of a locomotive.” Not much better.
The zones are already built and paid for. Now all the citizens have to do is adapt to them and BNSF will grant Jamestown the quiet zones. If people keep breaking the law, they’ll say “No” and you’ll be left with these $300K bright yellow reminders of failure. The real waste of money is when they decide to tear them down.
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Actually, I lived near the tracks and got used to trains. Then I moved across town, away from the tracks and it is louder here than it was down by the tracks. Funny how that acoustic thing works. Maybe it’s just because those whistles are just that loud.
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The fact that it was put to a vote by the citizens of Jamestown was the best way to handle the quiet zone decision. Everybody had equal chance for their voice to be heard.
The result is called progress through citizenship, and in this case a majority of the citizens believed the quiet zone was the best for them and thus our community.
We will rarely all agree on most things, but in the end the majority do, we do agree to follow the laws, and our community moves forward.
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The city engineer thinks the quiet zone might be negated by some drivers breaking traffic laws? really? in other breaking news, the city engineer is already thinking of reasons to remove the snow gates from the snow plows. These things are now news, this is just the typical, expected, responses from the city engineer. The city (and the council) never wanted the quiet zone. The council wouldn’t take a position or vote on it. It was done by a voter petition and vote. The city engineer has taken close to three years to implement it. Obviously they are not real happy with it, so not sure their opinion on it is real valuable.
Went through this crossing last night. The u turn permitted sign is small and way off to the side, so kind of hard to see. Perhaps better signage would help. But there will always be a few drivers that break traffic laws. Not sure how that can affect the other quiet zone crossings, which are quite far away though.
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Harassment isn’t permitted on Areavoices. Threatening to destroy people’s property is harassment. Don’t do it.
Also: If you want to get a moderator’s attention, send him or her a message, don’t post it on a thread.
Thank you.
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What’s next? Not being allowed to honk my car horn at the kids I drive by at night? Just so you all can sleep better? There are a ton of loud noises in Jamestown that COULD be stopped, but why? For whom? Let’s be clear – until they make a pedestrian maze for all crosswalks, I’m blaring my horn at all the intersections. Seems like if you can’t hear a train coming, you sure as heck won’t be able to hear a car! Those of you out there who agree can show your disapproval of this stupid loud train law by honking at all road crossings!
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For your information, there ARE noise ordinances. Ask any young person who had a loud party broken up or any trucker who hit the Jake brake in town.
Get realistic. As much as I intensely dislike cops, I would hope they would throw the book at you for being a nuisance at intersections every time you honk.
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There isn’t any less reason for me to honk, safety-wise, than there is for a train to blow its horn at every single crossing. If excessive is what the law calls for, then there isn’t any issue here. The streets here are pretty loud with Joe-blow and truck lacking a muffler for the police to even care about my honking. A rule is only as good as its enforcer, which is also why people are pumping their sump pumps into the sewer.
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The quiet zone works quite well in Fargo, but then that’s Fargo. Nothing seems to work quite as well in Jamestown.
It’s also interesting that you seem to advocate breaking the law whenever things don’t go the way you want. Now you want to break the noise ordinance because it’s not always enforced.
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There are noise ordinances, but they are NEVER enforced. If I had a nickel for everytime I hear some huge truck or motor cycle that was loudly revving its engine in town I’d be a rich man. The police NEVER ticket loud vehicles, they are the real problem in town, they are even worse than trains. I should just drive around with my horn blaring constantly, its not like I’d ever get a ticket for it.
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All that is needed is jersy barriers added to the medians, then they couldn’t jump across them. .
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Actually, all that is needed is for a litigious society to start taking responsibility for their actions, obey the law, and pay attention to their driving. There, problem solved.
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If you think that is going to happen I have some ocean front property in Arizona for sale.
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I always thought that the arms that lower from both sides were the safer, more effective way of constructing the quiet zone.
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