Quiet by the end of the year?!

This is an update to my original article posted back in July.

According to the San Diego Quiet Zone website,  project completion for the downtown San Diego Quiet Zone is now scheduled for winter 2012. Good news for downtown residents that have had to deal with the late night noise from passing freight trains. After years of planning, proposals, construction and testing, the railroad corridor passing through central San Diego is scheduled to finally receive Quiet Zone certification within the next several weeks. The deadline for the final phase, originally set for spring, then again for August 2012, continued getting pushed back and now has a winter 2012 deadline – possibly a November 23rd completion date. If all goes well, residents within earshot of the late night train noises will finally begin the first of many peaceful and quiet nights.

Federal safety regulations require trains to sound a warning for 15-20 seconds upon apporaching within a quarter mile of  a railroad crossing. The warning noise must be between 96-110 decibles. With 13 crossings located from Laurel Street in Little Italy- Park Boulevard in East Village, the train whistles occur constantly-to the chagrin of nearby residents and hotel patrons. The Federal Railroad Administration issued this safety regulation back in June 2005, which has been a great success from a safety perspective-with collisions at rail crossings decreased by about a third. With the Quiet Zone certification, crossings will be updated with upgraded safety features allowing them to be exempt from the the whitstle regulation.