Quiet Zone for San Marco/Downtown and Surrounding Areas

[Ralph W]

Far too many fools got their drivers license from a Cracker Jacks box or were raised in a vacumn. If not for those people there could be a never ending quiet zone.
I would love to have a Nathan chime on my truck and motorhome.

[Jaxson]

There's always to option of removing more crossings or adding a grade separated crossing.

I agree with you, Lakelander.  Grade separated crossings improve safety for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians. 

http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/xings/com_roaduser/07010/sec04a.htm

[jaxjaguar]

I've never understood why there isn't an overpass "grade seperated crossing" to get to Baptist / Wolfson. I see ambulances get stuck all the time coming south over the acosta and main street bridges. I always feel terrible for the poor schmo that's stuck in the back waiting 20 minutes just for the train to stop and reverse direction before continuing again. lol

[Radio Man]

Gotta agree with Stephen Dare on this one...

There is a reason for the "long long short long" signal for grade crossings. People may be inconvenienced by the noise, but keep in mind that the tracks were there before the built-up neighborhood. In my opinion, the location we are talking about is far too dense to go with a "silent mode", i.e. relying on gates and lights alone. Traffic is always present there, and they need to coexist.

I lived (in college) one block away from a heavily traveled double track main line, with far more trains than are sent through San Marco today. You get used to it. It's not a nuisance, in my opinion, it's rather a signal that things are moving along, than an impediment to anything.

Again, my opinion...those who wish for "no train horns" are asking for more trouble than they are asking for with respect to mere "convenience".

[Tacachale]

A live a block from the FEC tracks and right around the corner from a crossing. Honestly, I don't even notice the whistle anymore.

[marty904]

Here's a thought... Let's look at changing the design of the "gates" that have been the same for the last 200 years!
For such a destructive machine that looms beyond "the gate", those flimsy arms wouldn't stop a Fiat 500 from driving through them.  You would think by this day and age of all the cool tech that has been designed/developed for security, after 9/11 happened, we would have something more restrictive than these flimsy arms that you can drive through or around easily.

We need something that is impossible to drive through or around, then we could let the trains be more quiet...

Look at draw bridges - the fact that there is a complete  barrier makes it so the boats going though don't need to blast a horn the whole time they're crossing through.

We need full barriers - ditch the flimsy "arms", then we can have the "quiet zones".

[acme54321]

Here's a thought... Let's look at changing the design of the "gates" that have been the same for the last 200 years!
For such a destructive machine that looms beyond "the gate", those flimsy arms wouldn't stop a Fiat 500 from driving through them.  You would think by this day and age of all the cool tech that has been designed/developed for security, after 9/11 happened, we would have something more restrictive than these flimsy arms that you can drive through or around easily.

We need something that is impossible to drive through or around, then we could let the trains be more quiet...

Look at draw bridges - the fact that there is a complete  barrier makes it so the boats going though don't need to blast a horn the whole time they're crossing through.

We need full barriers - ditch the flimsy "arms", then we can have the "quiet zones".

Not sure what drawbridges you're referencing because most all of them around here (the whole state?) have the same exact barrier arms.

[David]

I miss the horns now that i'm out in Mandarin. Then again, I always lived a mile or two away from the tracks while in town so they were only slight hums in the distance.

I tell you when the horns bothered me the most, it was while on the Amtrak riding up to NY. Couldn't get any sleep!

[NaldoAveKnight]

Anyone wanting the train noise to go away is not recommending a reckless situation where there's no safety measures in place.  As for the romantics that crave the train horn noise, surely they could play a train horn soundtrack on their stereo, bringing back sweet memories of an earlier time.

[Overstreet]

.......Look at draw bridges .........

I live far enough away from the track that the horn is not a problem. However when the train runs over the DRAW BRIDGE over the Ortega river it sounds like a large engine reving up next door. Not all noise is the horn.  Y'all don't want that draw bridge noise in San Marco believe me.


Of course Florida East Coast railway, owner of those San Marco tracks,  started around 1896. Trains have been using those tracks longer than most of those folks have been alive.  I think this complaint is like moving next to the airport and complaining about all the airplanes.

[marty904]

Not sure what drawbridges you're referencing because most all of them around here (the whole state?) have the same exact barrier arms.

I think maybe I didn't explain very well, my example of the drawbridge - not so much the flimsy arms that come down but the actual bridge itself becomes an impassable barrier when it goes up.

My point is, we have so many types of vehicle barriers that have been designed for security, let's use those for safety at the RR crossings.

[camarocane]

If Florida wasn't stuck on spending the family fortune on roads, they could copy New Mexico (or Palatka) and create overpasses using giant corrugated pipe and fill. It's quick, it's cheap, it lasts forever, a great solution.

Good idea but those CMPs certainly do not last forever. RCP would be a better fit, but by then you may as well build a bridge.

[PeeJayEss]

Why not these?:

[blfair]

Why not these?:
(photo of automatic/movable bollards)

I was thinking the same thing -- but I wonder what the reliability maintenance concerns are? I have seen them used in Europe to exclude cars and let buses through, etc, but that was in a low traffic/pedestrian area really... I imagine a railroad right of way is a harsher environment. Having one of these hang up on a rock or something and blocking traffic would be bad.

[ProjectMaximus]

Although people driving through barricades (whether being careless, ignorant, or intentionally trying to harm themselves) is indeed a problem, I think the biggest issue isn't with the flimsy arms themselves but with malfunctioning equipment. Dateline or 20/20 had something about this about a month ago, and more often than you'd imagine the arms and lights don't operate properly and the only thing left to warn oncoming traffic and pedestrians is whatever sound the train itself can make. One recurring problem was having two trains approach in succession...the barricades would only operate properly for the first passing train and when they opened to allow traffic across...BOOM came the second train in the other direction. Also explains why school buses have to stop and open the door before crossing over train tracks.

So I don't think it's the durability of the barricades themselves that is the top priority.