Fri Feb 03 2012
by Jeff Saunders
Reporter
Macedonia -- In 2009, the whistle at the end of the tunnel began sounding for residents living near the Twinsburg Road railroad crossing west of Valley View Road.
In March, Gov. Ted Strickland announced that 149 transportation infrastructure projects around the state had been awarded federal stimulus funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. That list included $168,000 to create a "quiet zone" at the Twinsburg Road crossing. Hudson resident Greg McNeil, who chairs a committee that has been exploring the creation of the zone, applied for the funding.
The crossing is in an area surrounded by residential developments in the city, Northfield Center and Hudson. According to an April 2008 train count by Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, more than 70 trains crossed the track in one day, about half of them at night. Residents living near the tracks have complained about train whistles and horns, especially in the middle of the night, and that train traffic has increased dramatically in the last decade.
A quiet zone, which would be created under Federal Railroad Administration rules, would allow trains to go through the crossing without using horns and whistles except in emergencies such as someone walking on the tracks.
A proposed plan includes a $136,000 upgrade by Norfolk Southern Railroad of signal electronics at the crossing by Norfolk Southern Railroad, resulting in gates lowering in a consistent amount of time before the train crosses the track. Currently, the gates come down when the train is at a certain distance, which does not take its speed into account. The remaining funds would be used by the city to construct concrete barriers down the center of the road on both sides of the tracks to prevent vehicles from going around the lowered gates.
In June, City Council agreed to accept the money and in November, the railroad and the Ohio Development Commission completed negotiations for an agreement outlining details for how the project will be done. At that time, Megan McClory, secretary and treasurer with the rail commission, said that once all agreements are signed, PUCO would set a deadline for when the project must be completed, likely within one year.
Rail Commission spokesperson Stuart Nicholson said Dec. 23 that one last negotiation is taking place between the railroad and the Federal Highway Administration over wages that will be paid to railroad employees doing the upgrade work.
Nicholson said this is necessary because federal law requires workers on federally funded projects to be paid wages in line with what similar workers are paid in the area.
"It's pretty much in FHA's hands," said Nicholson, adding that the rail commission feels confident these negotiations will be concluded soon.
E-mail: jsaunders@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3169
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