Quiet Zones for Railroad Crossings in City of Plymouth, Michigan

What does the impact of Plymouth train horn noise look like now?

This is an image of the City of Plymouth overlaid with a “noise distribution map” of the sound of train horns at each of the seven railroad crossings. Those areas directly impacted by train horn noise of 70 decibels or above, include approximately:

• • 50 percent of the City’s total land area; and

  • 35 percent of existing homes.

A property value study estimates $39 million of increased property values with Quiet Zones. The details supporting this are in the files at the bottom of this page. In addition, all property values are indirectly impacted for various reasons, including "comparable values". Two-thirds of trains pass Plymouth at night.

Request: The City of Plymouth, Michigan is encouraged to consider taking steps to qualify railroad crossings for Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) "Quiet Zones" status which:

- prohibits trains from sounding horns except in emergencies;

- is safer than non-"Quiet Zone" railroad crossings;

- prevents drivers from going around the gates;

- potentially increases property values; and

- has been successfully done by over 500 communities in accordance with federal regulations, which have allowed this since 2006.

Background: Since 2006, a federal regulation ("Train Horn Rule" 49 CFR 222) has required trains to sound horns at railroad crossings unless certain "Quiet Zone" criteria are met. A "Quiet Zone" is a half-mile length of track where the FRA requires that trains not sound the horn except in emergencies. To meet the criteria, extra safety equipment is added such as signs and a raised concrete median along the yellow lines in the middle of the street to prevent cars from driving around the closed gates. The existing signs, gates, bells and flashing lights continue to be used.

Petition: To demonstrate your support, please sign the petition at www.ipetitions.com/petition/plymouthquietzones (now with over 575 signatures on-line and on-paper: about 14% of households.)

Facebook: See www.facebook.com/plymouthquietzones .

Email: If you have questions, comments, observations, or would like to help please email PlymouthQuietZones@hotmail.com .

For more information, please click on the items under "Navigation" to the left. To return to this page, click on "PlymouthQuietZones" at the top of each page. In addition, you are encouraged to google "Quiet Zones" to see the many examples of other cities (of similar size and similar resources) that have successfully implemented Quiet Zones.

What might a Quiet Zone look like?

There are various options, but "non-traversable curb medians", as those shown below, often suffice.

Looking for more information?

Click on the left hand side of this website to navigate to other pages.

Click on files below (in PDF format) for more information including the proposal and property value study. This site is designed to function with the "Google Chrome" browser.