As the City of Orlando continues to add residential developments to its downtown core, it is looking to establish a new Downtown Orlando Quiet Zone that would ban the use of train horns at every public highway-rail grade crossing.
FDOT will install enhanced physical improvements at all of the downtown crossings that include four quadrant gates, new curbing, delineators, and more signage to allow for quiet zone operations.
The crossings include Virginia Drive, Alden Road, Highland Avenue, Magnolia Avenue, Orange Avenue, West Marks Street, West Colonial Drive, West Conford Street, West Amelia Street, Lynx Station, West Livingston Street, East Robinson Street, West Jefferson Street, West Washington Street, West Central Boulevard, West Pine Street, West Church Street, West South Street, America Street, Ernestine Street, West Gore Street, West Columbia Street, West Kaley Street, West Grant Street, West Michigan Street, West Pineloch Avenue, and Drennen Road.
The restrictions are expected to go into effect on January 31, 2022, and will be effective 24-hours-a-day.
The City of Winter Park has had a Quiet Zone in place since January 2020.
Just for clarity’s sake, it is the Federal government that requires train engineers to blow horns 15 seconds before crossing a road. That is for our own good. Local governments may request a Quiet Zone exemption and the approval process is more or less automatic (the exception is a crossing where there has been a “relevant collision” in the past 23 years, which in Central Florida, where our residents keep running into fast moving trains, might be an issue). Once approved, the local government must then work with the railroad and DOT to make it so people can’t go around gates to beat the train by using more gates and medians. The City of Winter Park did this some time ago. What has taken Orlando so long? Sunrail has been running for 7 1/2 years and, before that, the trains have been running through downtown since before they starting paving the roads.