First phase of Cedar Rapids railroad quiet zones nears completion

CEDAR RAPIDS — The end may be in sight for a downtown Cedar Rapids project that started eight years ago to reduce the sounds of train horns heard regularly throughout the day and night in the area.

According to City Engineer Ken DeKeyser, there is only one railroad crossing — on Stickle Drive NE at C Avenue NE — where work still has to be completed before the city can apply to make the first section of downtown a designated quiet zone. The work there is underway.

“We’re hoping that this fall the quiet zone could be formally established,” DeKeyser said.

The first quiet zone will extend along the tracks from C Avenue NE to Fifth Avenue SE. Future phases of the project will seek to add additional quiet zones from Sixth Avenue SE to Otis Road SE, and from Third Street SE to Second Street SW.

Once the work on the first phase is complete, the city will apply to the U.S. Department of Transportation for the area to be designated an official quiet zone, which means passing trains won’t be required to sound their horns at each crossing like now.

Work had to be done at each of the railroad crossings in the area to add safety precautions including crossing arms and additional signage so people know not to enter the tracks as a train is coming, even if they don’t hear a horn.

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There will still be a warning sound when a train is coming, but it will come from the crossing signal itself rather than the train and won’t be as loud, according to DeKeyser. Trains also still are required to blow their horns in an emergency situation.

Cedar Rapids officials first announced in 2017 that they were working to create quiet areas downtown and the first phase of the project initially was meant to be completed by 2022. It has faced multiple delays related to the pandemic and supply chain shortages.

“There’s been a quite a lag on some of our projects, because we’re waiting for the railroad to get their work done,” DeKeyser said.

The city is working with three railroad companies to complete the quiet zones — Union Pacific, Canadian National and the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway Company, known as CRANDIC. The companies are doing the work to replace the railway signals at the crossings, while the city is replacing street paving around the crossings. All of the work is being paid for by the city.

The overall cost of the phase that will be completed this year was about $6.3 million, according to DeKeyser. The estimated overall cost for all of the planned quiet zones is $14.4 million, according to current calculations, but DeKeyser said that estimate likely will creep up each year with inflation. Last year, the estimated overall cost was $13.9 million.

Agreements have been made between the city and the railroads and the design process is underway for the next phase of the project, which will add a quiet zone between Sixth Avenue SE and Otis Road SE, near the entrance to the Prairie Park Fishery.

Once the designs are ready, the City Council will have to approve the costs for the project. DeKeyser said he hasn’t decided yet whether to make the cost bid to the city as one large project for the entire phase, or split it up into smaller packages based on the various crossings that will need to be updated.

If everything goes to plan, DeKeyser said construction for the second phase of the project should start next year and finish in 2027. Construction for the third phase, which will go from Third Street SE to Second Street SW, will begin in 2028 and be completed in 2029.

Overall, DeKeyser said he’s glad to be close to the end of the first phase of the project, and he knows the businesses and residents downtown are excited as well.

“The (DoubleTree Hilton) hotel is going to thank us a lot. That seems to be probably the biggest thing we hear is from hotel patrons, about how the horns can be in the middle of the night,” DeKeyser said.

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