05-14-2014 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES CITY COUNCIL May 14, 2014 McKenzie noted the six crossings in Little Canada, five of which cross City streets and one a County road. These are Woodlyn Avenue, South Owasso Blvd., Little Canada Road, Demont Avenue, County Road B-2, and County Road B (County road crossing). He noted the location of each of these crossings and reported that a Quiet Zone would exist a length of mile on either side of the crossing for a total of 1/2 mile in length. McKenzie then reviewed the existing warning devices at each of these crossing, noting that only the County Road B-2 crossing has flashing light signals with gates. Minimum improvements to establish a Quiet Zone would be for railroad signals with gates and raised medians at a cost estimate of $200,000 to $275,000 per crossing. McKenzie reported that the rules for establishing Quiet Zones talk about reducing the risk at crossings through Supplemental Safety Measures (SSMs). FRA pre -approved SSMs include either permanent or temporary crossing closures, night time only quiet zones, 6" high raised center medians a minimum of 60' in length although 100' is preferred, and 4 quadrant gates. McKenzie indicated that closures do not appear to be workable in Little Canada. He also noted that the crossing improvements that would be required in the City are the same whether the Quiet Zone was a night time zone or all the time. With regard to the raised center medians, McKenzie noted that there are some challenges for the City given the location of driveways and/or intersections closer than 60 feet to the crossing. With regard to the 4 quadrant gates, the cost doubles at each crossing to $400,000 to $450,000. McKenzie noted that 4 quadrant gates require the installation of vehicle detection so that vehicles do not get caught between the gates. He also noted that the railroads have a policy that cities are responsible for the maintenance costs for the extra gates. McKenzie did not think there were any 4 quadrant gates in Minnesota. He then reported another option would be to install a stationary horn that points straight down the street rather than down the track, thus minimizing noise. The cost of these horns is between $100,000 and $150,000 and the railroads have indicated that cities are responsible for all these maintenance costs at an estimated $5,000 to $10,000 per year. McKenzie indicated that two or three cities have removed these horns, and indicated that the City of Andover still has two. With regard to the level of train traffic that was assumed for the study, McKenzie indicated that the CP has one track through the City and approximately 6 trains per day at a top speed of 25 mph. Residents present indicated that there are at least 8 to 10 trains per day and 5 trains within one hour have been observed. McKenzie indicated that there is the potential that the train traffic will increase. There was then discussion about which way the train traffic was moving with McKenzie indicated that trains moving north are generally empty but some could be hauling 3