Pandemic and shortages delay railroad quiet zones in downtown Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS — If you’ve had a meeting, conversation or night of sleep disrupted by train horns in downtown Cedar Rapids, you may be honked off hear a plan to create “quiet zones” has been delayed two years.

The first phase of the project was expected to be complete by the end of the summer, but now will extend to 2024, said John Witt, city traffic engineer for Cedar Rapids. The whole project now has an estimated end date of 2026.

The COVID-19 pandemic and material shortages are the primary causes of the delay, Witt said.

“We're waiting on improvements for the gates and flashers at First Avenue … and there are a few minor improvements that need to be made at the crossings that have already been upgraded with the gates and flashers just with little minor curb work and sidewalk changes,” he said.

Disruptions downtown

It’s common to have a blaring train whistle halt conversation while walking near the tracks in downtown Cedar Rapids. So common that some Cedar Rapids residents hardly notice.

“The horns don’t bother me,” said Carmen Marten, 38, of Cedar Rapids, who was enjoying the sunshine Tuesday in downtown’s Greene Square. If she’s chatting with a friend or even taking a phone call, she’ll continue despite the noise. “I do anything while they are honking.”

But for businesses and nonprofits near the tracks, the horns can be disruptive.

“If it’s going to happen, it will happen at the most quiet moment of a play,” said Lisa Kelly, associate artistic director for Theatre Cedar Rapids, at 102 Third St. SE.

Kelly has heard the audience laugh when the train horns sound at an inopportune time. She also recently had to pause show auditions while a train was passing because she couldn’t hear the people singing.

But Kelly recalls one night in 2018 when the train added to a performance. The theater was staging the Diary of Anne Frank, which tells the true story of a Jewish girl and her family who hide from the Nazis in a secret annex in Amsterdam. The train horn sounded just as police discovered the Franks’ hideout, Kelly said.

“They (the Franks) don’t actually get taken away by train, but we all know what happened,“ Kelly said. ”The wailing of the train as they get taken out was unnerving.“

Safety upgrades

Sounding the horn is the way train operators warn pedestrians or motorists to not cross the tracks when a train is coming.

But in the mid-2010s, as businesses relocated or rebuilt in downtown Cedar Rapids following the historic 2008 flood, there was concern frequent horn blasts would harm business and entertainment and might deter people from wanting to live downtown.

By adding railroad crossing gates and flashing lights — and in some cases medians to keep people from going around the gates — the city could apply to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration for a quiet zone designation that reduces the use of train whistles by up to 40 percent, The Gazette reported in 2017.

“The railroad is required to cease routine sounding of the train horn once the public authority meets all requirements outlined in the regulation,” said Susan Stevens, a spokeswoman for Union Pacific, one of three railroad companies Cedar Rapids is working with on the project.

The others are Canadian National Railway Company and the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City (CRANDIC) Railway Company.

While the city is responsible for construction related to the roadway and sidewalk, work associated with the rail lines, including gate arms, flashers and bells, is handled by the railroad companies.

Each quiet zone extends about a half-mile. Even in these areas, train operators still may sound the horn horns for emergencies and notifications, said Cory Hoffmann, chief operating officer for CRANDIC.

“What we're wanting is what's safe for the general public and our employees as well,” he said.

Below are the phases of the quiet zones project, including the city’s cost and estimated completion date:

Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com