Quiet zone crossings you're aware of
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illinoistrains
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Re: Quiet zone crossings you're aware of
In Arizona: All crossing in Flagstaff, William St. in Wellton, Martin St. in Gila Bend, several crossings in Downtown Phoenix, R.H. Johnson Blvd. in Surprise, 163rd Ave. in Surprise, and the crossings in Kingman will be by the end of the year.
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ConductorWho
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Re: Quiet zone crossings you're aware of
Aware of? More like "And on that day, OC railfans received a grim reminder..."
These are on the SCAX Orange County Subdivison south of Santa Ana and north of Oceanside. Most of north Orange County's ex-ATSF track is comprised of Quiet Zone crossings, so there are thusly much, much too many to list.
TUSTIN:
Red Hill Avenue (MP 177.9)
IRVINE:
Harvard Avenue, Irvine (MP 179.9)
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO:
Oso Road (MP 196.2)
La Zanja Street (MP 196.8)
Verdugo Street (MP 197.3)
Del Obispo Street (MP 197.4)
Avenida Aeropuerto (MP 198.8)
DANA POINT:
Beach Road (MP 201.0)
SAN CLEMENTE:
Senda De La Playa (MP 203.6)
North Beach Pedestrian Crossing (MP 203.75)
Exact milepost numbers credits to http://mikeamick.com/. Note that a fair number of crossings were upgraded with Safetran quad / ped gates during 2011, with the two major cut-ins (San Clemente and San Juan) occurring in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Of them Verdugo Street has been altered the least.
As for my two cents on QZ usage--it mostly addresses a noise issue. I have yet to see a Quiet Zone solve a major roadway's traffic problems, and in the cases of Red Hill and Del Obispo quiet-zoning actually made things worse. I do recall 1-mile backups at both crossings, due to rush-hour train and road traffic meshing in the most unpleasantly-synchronized mess I've seen out there. Of them, Del Obispo takes the cake for being "the worst" as it has been traditionally-congested, and is tightly sandwiched between two major intersections. For all three lights to be green and for the crossing to be open to road traffic is next-to-impossible, and during rush hour the queue of cars can stretch much, much further back.
But as a railfanning thing, Quiet Zones have been "a thing" for several years now. Like it or not, they're going to either stay, evolve into grade-separations as roads clog further, or--in the case of BNSF's lawsuit against the CPUC regarding the remainder of the San Clemente crossings--be fought off or mired in construction due to legal issues.
These are on the SCAX Orange County Subdivison south of Santa Ana and north of Oceanside. Most of north Orange County's ex-ATSF track is comprised of Quiet Zone crossings, so there are thusly much, much too many to list.
TUSTIN:
Red Hill Avenue (MP 177.9)
IRVINE:
Harvard Avenue, Irvine (MP 179.9)
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO:
Oso Road (MP 196.2)
La Zanja Street (MP 196.8)
Verdugo Street (MP 197.3)
Del Obispo Street (MP 197.4)
Avenida Aeropuerto (MP 198.8)
DANA POINT:
Beach Road (MP 201.0)
SAN CLEMENTE:
Senda De La Playa (MP 203.6)
North Beach Pedestrian Crossing (MP 203.75)
Exact milepost numbers credits to http://mikeamick.com/. Note that a fair number of crossings were upgraded with Safetran quad / ped gates during 2011, with the two major cut-ins (San Clemente and San Juan) occurring in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Of them Verdugo Street has been altered the least.
As for my two cents on QZ usage--it mostly addresses a noise issue. I have yet to see a Quiet Zone solve a major roadway's traffic problems, and in the cases of Red Hill and Del Obispo quiet-zoning actually made things worse. I do recall 1-mile backups at both crossings, due to rush-hour train and road traffic meshing in the most unpleasantly-synchronized mess I've seen out there. Of them, Del Obispo takes the cake for being "the worst" as it has been traditionally-congested, and is tightly sandwiched between two major intersections. For all three lights to be green and for the crossing to be open to road traffic is next-to-impossible, and during rush hour the queue of cars can stretch much, much further back.
But as a railfanning thing, Quiet Zones have been "a thing" for several years now. Like it or not, they're going to either stay, evolve into grade-separations as roads clog further, or--in the case of BNSF's lawsuit against the CPUC regarding the remainder of the San Clemente crossings--be fought off or mired in construction due to legal issues.