MICHIGAN CITY — The city has moved a step closer to establishing a quiet zone along the South Shore Line, after the Michigan City Common Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to designate money from the city’s allotment of American Rescue Plan Act funds.
In a resolution passed unanimously, the council committed to paying for the necessary grade crossing improvements required to establish a quiet zone between Carroll and Sheridan avenues along the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District tracks.
A related ordinance introduced later in the meeting calls for the appropriation of $1 million in ARPA money to pay for both an official study to be conducted, as well as construction.
City Controller Yvonne Hoffmaster clarified that it’s anticipated approximately $850,000 will be needed to do both, but that $1 million was appropriated to allow for contingencies. She said any unused portion of the appropriation would be returned to the Local Fiscal Recovery Fund for use on other projects.
NICTD President and General Manager Mike Noland told the council in April that NICTD is on board with the city’s desire for a quiet zone, and has already accounted for any necessary grade crossing upgrades in its planning for the Double Track NWI Project.
“To establish a quiet zone, there are specific qualifications the Federal Railroad Administration looks for,” Noland explained.
“You have to evaluate each different traffic pattern, the crossings, the amount of accidents that have occurred at the station, the opportunities for what the Federal Railroad Administration calls ‘supplemental safety measures’ to reduce the risk of drivers going around gates and being struck by a train.”
Installing things like gates, bells, lights, medians and any other safety measures the city and FRA deem necessary are where construction costs would apply.
But as Noland clarified, the establishment of a quiet zone does not prohibit train engineers from blowing their whistles when they deem it necessary; it merely lifts the requirement that they do so at each grade crossing.
Councilman Paul Przybylinski said on Tuesday that he hopes Mayor Duane Parry will appropriate money to establish quiet zones along the CSX Transportation and Amtrak tracks as well.
As Noland explained in April, the city would need to contact each of those rail lines to garner their support before applying to the FRA for quiet zones along those tracks.
And should it gain that support, it would need to conduct new studies to determine which upgrades would need to be made at which locations.
Parry verbally committed in April to making sure no Michigan City neighborhood containing train tracks goes unaddressed during his administration.
The ordinance calling for the $1 million appropriation of ARPA funds for the quiet zone along the NICTD tracks will be up for public hearing at the council’s June 21 meeting.
© Copyright 2024 LPHeraldDispatch.com