This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
Although the City of Longmont is looking at spending almost $90 million dollars on infrastructure projects through a bond issue on the November ballot, railroad quiet zones are not currently part of that planned spending.
However, the city council will be looking at in-depth options during the September 18th city council meeting.
Longmont, along with a few other cities in the area, applied for DOLA (Department of Local Affairs) and Tiger (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grants but were not successful and were told not to apply again because they don't qualify.
The city will be looking at some incremental steps to address this issue while trying to fund the full-blown cost, which is approximately $7 million to fully mitigate the noise issues. This project is currently in the 'unfunded' category set by city staff.
There are three intersections that require updating to be made into quiet zones: the Sunset Street crossing, the Ken Pratt Blvd. crossing and one at 1st and Emery. The Emery Street crossing is being made into a quiet zone due to a S. Main developer who is providing some funding that involves traffic signals and will tie into a future trail.
The 2018 budget currently has $50,000 allotted for quiet zone funding. Combining this money along with next year's allotted $30,000 will allow for an $80,000 budget to begin the design process for some of the affected intersections. City staff will be considering how they can address these quiet zone needs in two weeks when they will have more detailed plans.
Council Member Marcia Martin brought up a concern that there is a school next to the railway tracks on the east side of Longmont, and then asked if there were any intersections currently being done and if everything was just in the design phase. City staff responded that currently "we're looking at design" but will have a clearer picture in two weeks, and can try to factor in construction next year. Council Member Martin said it would be good if we could move the sounding of horns away from that school sooner.
Read Longmont East Side resident Rick Jacobi's opinion piece on this subject by Clicking Here.
As with all City Council meetings, if residents are interested in being more civically engaged and providing feedback and points of view to Council members, there is an opportunity at the beginning of every City Council meeting for "Public Invited To Be Heard". Anyone can stand in front of the council for up to 3 minutes and provide a point of view and information that the council members will use to help make their decisions. Simply sign up to speak at the table in front of the council chambers at 350 Kimback between 6:30 pm and 7:00 pm.
