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| Council Study Session To Focus On Train Noise $9.5 Million for Quiet Zones Is raising property taxes their only remedy? |
The City of Loveland is telling its residents that building improved railroad crossings throughout Loveland will cost approximately
$9.5 million that the city doesn’t have. Privately, the city manager and council are discussing a plan to create a “special
improvement district” to raise property taxes on parcels near railroad tracks within Loveland’s city limits.
Why Are the Improvements Necessary?
The improvements are necessary as the result of a federal law (49 U.S.C. 20153) which requires train engineers to blow their high
decibel air horn (96 dBA-110 dBA) before crossing intersections in populated areas. In 2005 a “Final Rule” was approved
allowing cities with adequate safety devices at each crossing to establish a “Quiet Zone” thus eliminating the requirement that the
engineer blow the whistle while travelling through these designated areas.
Loveland has long neglected its now obsolete train crossing safety devices while also failing to build adequate pedestrian crossings,
road medians and other basic infrastructure common to most well maintained and growing municipalities. The $9.5 million figure
being touted by the city is the amalgamated cost of installing the safety devices required for Quiet Zones but also making the capital
road and pedestrian crossing improvements that have been long neglected by the City of Loveland but are required before the
safety devices can work properly.
Loveland residents have become more vocal in recent months about the increase in train whistle noise as the same federal law
mandates the train begin blowing its whistle 1/4 mile before crossings for 15-20 seconds. The deafening noise has wreaked havoc
upon Loveland residents who have not only experienced the reduction in their quality of life within the city but also experienced
depressed property values as a result of the change.
From Norfolk, Virginia to Houston, Texas to Burbank, California and even Fargo, North Dakota, American cities have been
funding the implementation of “Quiet Zones” across the country to comply with the new rule and save their residents the pain of the
loud train whistles. Loveland’s Director of Public Works Keith Reester, however, has failed to adequately address the problem.
As a result, Loveland is starting from scratch on trying to solve two problems simultaneously; installing traffic safety devices at each
at-grade crossing while also improving the overall safety of the crossing by providing pedestrian paths and other basic infrastructure.
Now, as a result of constant citizen complaints, the city has hired a consultant to study the issue and provide the city council with
recommendations. The consultant has roughly approximated the city will need to spend $9.5 million to adequately address both
problems.
Loveland Consultant Provides False Information During “Public Information Meeting”
The Denver based engineering firm hired by the City of Loveland, Felsburg Holt & Ullevig, Inc., provided a power point
presentation they entitled “Public Information Meeting” during a public meeting hosted by the engineering firm for Loveland
residents on February 19, 2009.
False information was presented to the public during the forum. One slide in the presentation discussing funding options asserted,
“No state or federal funds are available for creation of quiet zones-can be used for other crossing safety
improvements”
The same slide concludes that the only three alternatives available for funding the improvements exist for the city; taking money from
the general fund, from sales tax revenues or establishing a special taxing district.
Contrary to what Felsburg Holt & Ullevig, Inc. told Loveland residents, there is no such rule against funding Quiet Zone
improvements with federal or state tax dollars. In fact, cities across the country have benefited from federal funding while
implementing Quiet Zone improvements in their cities. Loveland is one of only a few cities in Northern Colorado’s front range with
no plans or program to receive state funds to improve its railroad crossings to qualify for Quiet Zone status.
State Funding
Every city between Longmont and Denver (including Boulder) along the 41-mile Northwest Corridor (proposed 41-mile commuter
rail corridor between Longmont and Denver via Boulder) is scheduled to receive RTD funds of approximately $300,000 to
$500,000 per crossing to fund improvements to qualify for the federal Quiet Zone designation.
While Loveland’s consultant is projecting a cost of nearly $10 million to improve railroad crossings within Loveland’s city limits, the
RTD says the improvement of the 45 at-grade crossings between Longmont and Denver will cost only a third more of that number
at $15 million. This could be attributed to the fact the State of Colorado is offering funding only for the safety equipment upgrades
and not general infrastructure improvements of the roadways and sidewalks.
Loveland can also qualify for state funding if city officials are successful in lobbying for the commuter rail system of the RTD to
access downtown Loveland and beyond. So far, Loveland’s city council and staff have been heavily focused on subsidizing big
box retail along Interstate I-25 and have not shown any substantive interest in commuter rail options for transportation. Perhaps
the Quiet Zone funding from the State of Colorado will make them reconsider.
Federal Funding
Many cities across the country have proposed using the recently passed federal stimulus funds to improve their railroad crossings to
qualify for Quiet Zones. As an example, the State Legislature in North Dakota argued to restrict cities taking advantage of the
federal transportation stimulus money for railroad improvements to implement Quiet Zones because according to one lawmaker,
“there is plenty of other federal money available for that” while referring to block grants and other federal dollars provided directly
to cities.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Program Section 130 Program was established specifically to provide funding to
improve highway safety around the country.
Section 148 establishes sub-allocations ('set asides') for two specific purposes:
1) Highway-Rail Grade Crossings: $220,000,000 is to be set aside each fiscal year (Fiscal years 2006 "“ 2009) from
23USC148 for the elimination of hazards and the installation of protective devices at highway-rail grade crossings
(projects eligible under 23USC130.)
2) High Risk Rural Roads: $90,000,000 each fiscal year (Fiscal years 2006 "“ 2009) for construction and operational
improvements on high risk rural roads.
Felsburg Holt & Ullevig’s public presentation had a number of other problems beyond misleading Loveland residents about the
funding options. The presentation looks remarkably similar to a view graph presentation made by King Engineering & Associates,
a Florida firm that was retained by Hillsborough County Florida to study the feasibility of implementing Quiet Zones. You can
review the similar 2006 presentation by Engineers Associates by clicking here.
Both presentations follow the same basic format, have the same key points and even share a nearly identical sound graph showing
the difference between a wayside horn and train whistle sound area. Even the legend, scale and color combinations are identical on
the two graphs from the different presentations.
The two presentations also share not similar but exactly the same photography of sample railroad crossings on several slides while
making nearly identical comments.
Conspiracy or just Garden Variety Incompetence?
Loveland’s Chairman to the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) (a regional transportation consortium)
is Loveland Councilman Larry Heckel.
Heckel, despite having heard the complaints of residents about the train whistles, lobbied the State of Colorado along with the
MPO to use federal stimulus transportation monies to supplant commitments by McWhinney Enterprise’s Centerra Project to
improve Crossroads Blvd. In other words, allow the stimulus money to let Centerra off the hook for funding certain improvements
it agreed to as part of a Master Financing Agreement with the City of Loveland instead of improving substandard and unsafe
railroad crossings within the city.
A video of Councilman Heckel reporting his work on the MPO committee can be viewed on LovelandPolitics main page in the
lower right hand corner where he tells his colleagues;
“I am kinda’ tired of going to a lot of meetings and just sitten there listening to some things and you don’t never accomplish anything
and I have never nothin to report to anybody so…”
Are the Costs Realistic?
While the city’s consultant, Felsburg Holt & Ullevig Inc., has qualified their estimates as being only rough estimates, they still appear
exceedingly high when compared to other cities. Houston, Texas, for example, is spending only $1 million per year to build
improvements to increase the number of Quiet Zones within the city.
Closer to home, Commerce City near Denver implemented a Quiet Zone (according to the Denver post) at a cost of only $15,000
per crossing.
The tremendously high cost of implementing the Quiet Zones has been blamed by Loveland’s city staff on the arcane rules of the
federal railroad bureaucracy. In response, the railroad authority, when contact by Lovelandpolitics, indicated the city has failed to
keep up with improved standards over the years and has been caught with its pants down on this issue by its residents.
| What are the conditions to qualify for being a Quiet Zone? Qualifying Conditions from the Federal Register One of the following four conditions or scenarios must be met in order to show that the lack of the train horn does not present a significant risk, or that the significant risk has been compensated for by other means: 1. One or more SSMs as identified in Appendix A of 49 CFR Parts 222 and 22 “use of locomotive horns at highway-rail grade crossings; final rule” are installed at each public crossing in the quiet zone; or 2. The Quiet Zone Risk Index is equal to, or less than, the Nationwide Significant Risk Threshold without implementation of additional safety measures at any crossings in the quiet zone; or 3. Additional safety measures are implemented at selected crossings resulting in the Quiet Zone Risk Index being reduced to a level equal to, or less than, the Nationwide Significant Risk Threshold; or 4. Additional safety measures are taken at selected crossings resulting in the Quiet Zone Risk Index being reduced to at least the level of risk that would exist if train horns were sounded at every public crossing in the quiet zone. |
| used by Loveland's consultant in a February 2009 presentation. The two presentations share many similar features including the same pictures of railroad crossings, similar format and data. What they don't share is Loveland's engineering consultant stated no federal or state funds are available to cover the costs of implementing quiet zones. At the bottom of this page is a side-by-side comparison of similar slides from each presentation. |
| On the left is a slide by King Engineering Assoc. that was presented to Hillsborough County, Florida in 2006 as part of their contract to study Quiet Zones for the county. On the right is a slide from the February 2009 presentation by Felsburg, Holt and Ulliveg under contract by the City of Loveland to study Quiet Zones for the city. Notice both presentations use the identical photograph and similar language. Maybe Loveland's Public Works Department can pull down a presentation from the Internet next time and save Loveland taxpayers the consulting fees charged to prepare a "public information" presentation. |