Directional horns are being installed this week at the Walnut Street crossing of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks.
This is the last piece of work required as part of the Downtown Quiet Zone Improvement Project to eliminate the routine sounding of train horns in the downtown area, said Scott Griepenstroh, Grand Island public works project manager.
Oak and Pine streets will become silent crossings due to the construction of concrete medians and concrete curb that narrowed the streets at the crossing approaches. The Elm Street crossing will also become silent as it was permanently closed on Jan. 16.
Walnut Street improvements required installation of a directional horn system, as well as concrete curb to narrow the street. The horn will sound directly at waiting traffic instead of engineers activating the train horn that sounded up and down the tracks.
Diamond Engineering of Grand Island received the $247,718 contract to construct the improvements designed by Felsburg, Holt and Ullevig, a transportation consulting firm in Omaha. Construction started last October with oversight provided by the Public Works Department engineering staff. Subcontractor Campbell Technology Corp. of Fort Worth, Texas, is installing the directional horn system.
Once the horn is installed and tested, the Grand Island Public Works Department can submit a 21-day Notice of Quiet Zone Establishment to the Federal Railroad Administration, U.P. and the Nebraska Central Railroad.
During the last seven days of the 21-day notice period, the public will hear both train horns and the new directional horn activate. Griepenstroh said that weeklong test is necessary to ensure the new horns are working properly and to help the train engineers become familiar with a new beacon system that indicates the directional horns are functioning.
After the 21 days expire, the routine sounding of train horns to warn approaching traffic at Oak, Pine and Walnut streets will cease. No Train Horn signs will be installed at the Oak and Pine crossings.
Train horns will occasionally be activated even with the new quiet zones in place under the following circumstances: trespassers or animals on or near tracks; staging of train cars on siding tracks for Peavey Grain and U.P.; maintenance crew personnel working on or near tracks; train engineer discretion, such as if a vehicle appears to be crossing when gates are down; or a system failure of the directional horn system at Walnut Street.
