Town of Castle Rock - File #: ID 2020-023

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result	Action Details	Meeting Details	Video/Audio
3/3/2020	1	Town Council	Presented		Action details	Meeting details	Video

To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council

From: Dan Sailer, Director of Public Works

Title

Update: Downtown Railroad Quiet Zone

Body

________________________________________________________________________________

The purpose of this item is to provide you with a status update for the Downtown Railroad Quiet Zone project. The limit of the Quiet Zone includes the three public crossings at Second, Third, and Fifth streets. The following map shows the three crossing locations and the primary improvements planned at each:

Minor signage changes are needed at the Fifth Street crossing location, but no significant changes to the gate equipment is planned. The existing median in the center of the road assists as a barrier to help prevent drivers from circumventing the existing gates.

The following photo is an example of what a four-quadrant gate system looks like.

Additional sidewalk improvements at the Second and Third Street crossings will be needed in order to accommodate this system. Minor curb, gutter and sidewalk improvements will be incorporated at each crossing to restrict certain alley accesses to minimize the potential of vehicles trying to evade railroad gates and getting trapped within the track area. This project is anticipated to be a multi-year project that is targeted for completion near the end of 2021.

As part of the Encore project’s Redevelopment Agreement, the Town will be receiving a total of $900,000 to be used toward this project. Additional Town funding may be necessary to supplement this dependent on the cost provided by the Union Pacific to install the two four-quadrant gate systems. This cost will be understood once engineer estimates are provided by the Union Pacific for the four-quadrant gates, and the Town’s design consultant, who is generating the sidewalk, curb, and gutter improvement plan sets.

Public Works has begun work on this project, and is in the early stages of this two-year schedule. The following items have occurred to date:

• Entered into a Quiet Zone Services Reimbursement Agreement with the Union Pacific Railroad. This agreement establishes administrative services incurred by the Union Pacific that are not engineering, or construction service related.

• Town staff has met with the Union Pacific Railroad (UP), Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), and Public Utilities Commission (PUC) staff as part of an on-site Diagnostic Review meeting to assess the concept, and provide a list of items necessary to include within the Town’s civil design plans.

• Begun hiring an engineering consultant to develop design plans for the pedestrian, curb, gutter, and sidewalk improvements that will be necessary

The following items are targeted for completion by the end of 2020:

• Complete the civil design plan set for the Town’s curb, gutter and sidewalk improvements, with buy-in from the Union Pacific, FRA, and PUC. This will include public input from adjacent businesses.

• Complete a Design Services Agreement with the UP for engineering services associated with the four-quadrant gate systems.

• Complete a PUC application to create a Quiet Zone

• Complete a Construction Agreement with the UP for installing the four-quadrant gate system, along with an Operations and Maintenance Agreement for maintenance of these systems.

The following items are targeted for completion by the end of 2021:

• Construction of all improvements.

• Completion of Notice of Intent to establish a Quiet Zone for public input.

• Completion of Notice of Establishment that notifies the public of the new Quiet Zone.

There are a few items to be aware of once the Quiet Zone is established: 1) If there are any trespassers observed by a Train Engineer, they are required to sound their horn even within an established Quiet Zone, and 2) Quiet Zones may be revoked if an incident, or incidents, occur within an established Quiet Zone.

Private Crossings

There has been some inquiry about whether trains can be prevented from sounding their horns at the existing private crossings located near Liggett Road. The map on the following page shows the location of these crossings. Per the federal rule, private crossings must be located in a Quiet Zone that has a public crossing on each end of the zone. This would require expanding the Town’s downtown zone to include these, and be added to the County’s existing Quiet Zone. This would bring additional risk of a potential revocation should an incident occur within an extended zone. Another possibility may exist if the adjacent property develops and converts these crossings into public crossings, or eliminates them all together.