Rockland County Safety & Quiet Zone Project. Town of Orangetown Public Meeting January 30, 2008

Transcription

1 ockland County Safety & Quiet Zone Project Town of Orangetown Public Meeting January 30, 2008

2 Agenda Welcome and Introductions Project Goals Project Area and ailroad Facts How to Establish a Quiet Zone Proposed Crossing Improvements Project Schedule

3 Project Goals 1. Improve safety at each ailroad crossing by construction of Supplemental Safety Measures (SSMs). 2. Establish a Quiet Zone at all the grade crossings in accordance with the Federal ailroad Administration ule. 3. Improve the safety & quality of life for ockland County residents

4 Project Evolution June 2002: County Completes Train Whistle Study June 2005: The Federal ailroad Administration passed Quiet Zone ule Aug. 2005: SAFETEA-LU transportation bill passes with $3.68 million for ockland County Quiet zones. June 2006: Sept. 2007: County has project placed in the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). NYS DOT Executes Agreement for Preliminary Engineering Phase to begin Quiet Zone Study

5 Project Partners esidents & Elected Officials Federal ailroad Administration (FA) New York State Department of Transportation (NYS DOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) County, Town and Village Highway Departments Land owners at private crossings CSX ailroad

6 Project Area 21 At-grade crossings on 23 miles of CSX West shore iver Line ailroad crosses: 3 County oads 8 Town oads 3 Village oads 7 Privately owned oads No State Highways Towns: Orangetown Clarkstown Stony Point Villages: Haverstraw West Haverstraw New Jersey Hudson iver

7 ailroad Facts CSX owns and operates West Shore iver Line Freight only, No passenger service 20 to 55 trains per day 1 to 2 trains per hour Peak days are Thursday and Friday Slowest days are Sunday and Monday Max. train speeds range from 40 mph to 50 mph Trains must blow horn within ¼ mile of crossing or 15 to 20 sec. before entering crossing Train horn is 96 to 110 decibels 40 MPH 50 MPH New Jersey Hudson iver

8 What is a Quiet Zone? A quiet zone is a section of a rail line that contains one or more consecutive railroad crossings at which Locomotive horns are not routinely sounded

9 Public Crossings: Creating a Quiet Zone At a minimum, must have flashing lights and gates, power out indicators and constant warning time circuitry Install either: Supplemental Safety Measure (SSM) or Wayside Horn or Alternative Safety Measure (ASM) Private Crossings: At a minimum, must have crossbuck, stop, and No Train Horn signs Are subject to Diagnostic Team eview (DT). The Quiet zone must install the recommendations of the DT.

10 Supplementary Safety Measure (SSM) A safety system or procedure established that is determined to be an effective substitute for the locomotive horn in the prevention of highway-rail accidents

11 Supplemental Safety Measures (SSMs) 1. Temporary Closure 2. 2 Quadrant Gates with medians 3. Upgrade 2 Quadrant gates to 4 Quadrant Gate 4. Upgrade 2 Quadrant gates to 4 Quadrant Gates with vehicle presence detection 5. Create One-way Streets with Gates 6. Grade Separation 7. Permanent Closure

12 Temporary Closure Gates on both sides of the crossing equires manual operation to open and close the crossing to vehicular access

13 2 Quadrant Gates with Medians Medians must be 100 ft. long aised with 6 inch high non-mountable curb

14 Four-Quadrant Gates Provides a full gated closure of the crossing Entrance gate Exit gate

15 4 Quadrant Gates with vehicle presence detection and enhanced monitoring Vehicle Presence Detection Detects vehicles trapped on tracks and doesn t lower exit gate Enhanced Monitoring Detects Broken Gate Wayside horn sounds to alert driver of approaching train Universal Quiet Zone Indicator goes dark to alert train operator to sound locomotive horn

16 Driver Behavior Study Motor Vehicle Violations Violations per 1000 trains Quad 4 Quad Type 1 Violations 2 Quad 4 Quad - 0 Type 2 Violations 2 Quad Gate 4 Quad Gate Violation Type: Type 1: from flashing lights to gates deployed Type 2: after gates fully deployed (drivers going around gates) * Data from USDOT Volpe esearch Center Study

17 One Way Street With Gates equires 2 gates on approach side

18 How is a Quiet Zone Established? Quiet Zone isk Index (QZI) must be below: Nationwide Significant isk Index (NWI) isk Index with Horns (IWH) QZI: The measure of risk in a quiet zone if SSMs are installed and horns are not sounded at the crossings. NWI: National average level of risk at railroad crossings equipped with flashing lights and gates and at which locomotive horns are sounded Nationwide Significant isk Threshold = IWH: The measure of risk if locomotive horns are sounded at every railroad crossing within a quiet zone.

19 Existing Crossing isk Levels Ex. isk Index= 99,573

20 isk Levels after Implementing SSMs Proposed Quiet Zone isk Index= 16,910 Nationwide Significant isk Threshold= 19,047 isk Index with Horns= 59,696 Proposed QZI is lower than NST and IWH

21 Andre Avenue Existing: 2 Quadrant Gates Proposed: 4 Quadrant Gates

22 Old Tappan d. Existing: 2 Quadrant Gates Proposed: 4 Quadrant Gates

23 Greenbush d. Existing: 2 Quadrant Gates Proposed: Median on east side (one way road)

24 Highview Ave. Existing: 2 Quadrant Gates Proposed: Make 1 way EB with 2 gates

25 Glenshaw St. Existing: 2 Quadrant Gates Proposed: 4 Quadrant Gates

26 Erie St. East Existing: 2 Quadrant Gates Proposed: 4 Quadrant Gates with loop detectors

27 Bradley Parkway Existing: 2 Quadrant Gates Proposed: 4 Quadrant Gates

28 Pine View d. (private) Existing: Crossbucks only Proposed: 4 Quadrant Gates

29 Schedule Jan April 2008 Public Information Meetings Submit Design eport Summer 2008 Design Approval Fall 2008 Detailed Plans CSX Construction Agreements & Bidding and Award Construction

30 ockland County Safety & Quiet Zone Project Town of Orangetown Public Meeting January 30, 2008