Village Of Oswego Investigates Moving Toward Railroad Quiet Zone

OSWEGO, IL — For years, Oswego Village officials have dealt with complaints from residents about the amount of noise caused by freight trains passing through on any given day.

But as the village looks to continue to reinvigorate its downtown district, officials have started the process of establishing a Quiet Zone, which would improve the quality of life without surrendering the need for safety at railroad crossings.

The process won’t be fast, nor will it be inexpensive, according to Jennifer Hughes, the village’s public works director and engineer. Hughes told Patch Monday that the project could cost an estimated $1.2 million and could take up to two years because of the number of steps involved in moving toward the establishment of the Quiet Zone.

Meetings will need to take place between local officials, the Federal Railroad Administration, the Illinois Commerce Commission, the Illinois Department of Transportation and other officials, Hughes said. Federal and railroad officials will need to agree to put supplemental safety measures in place to protect the nine crossings involved and an agreement will need to be reached among the involved parties before anything gets done.

Measures involve everything from adding additional signs (railroad crossing, stop signs, yield signs), pavement markings and even crossing gates that would help to maintain safety at the affected areas, Hughes said.

The affected area would involve about a 1.7-mile stretch between Benton Street to the south and extend north to the Oswegoland Park District Civic Center. Trains passing through the area would not sound their horns unless the engineer perceived a safety risk such as someone being on the tracks, Hughes said.

The process could take up to two years, but village officials have started the process by approving the hiring a Rosemont-based consulting and engineering firm that will determine what steps need to be taken to allow the trains from sounding their horns as much as they do currently.

The village has seen significant improvements in recent years, especially in the downtown business district. The most substantial addition has been The Reserve at Hudson Crossing, a $69 million multi-use development that includes a $12 million parking structure for residents and for public parking. Now, with a history of public complaints and with village officials hoping to attract more people to the downtown area, cutting down on train noise made sense, Hughes said.

“We’re bringing a lot more people into our downtown — a lot of new businesses, a lot of restaurants, new residents,” Hughes said. “So there’s this new energy in the downtown.”

Only one of the nine crossings that runs through the downtown area has a crossing gate. As officials anticipate more traffic coming through downtown, Hughes said that it was important to evaluate the safety of the railroad crossings. As many as eight trains run through Oswego each day — most of which are carrying sand from Ottawa for ongoing fracking projects, Hughes said.

Although a Quiet Zone wouldn't totally eliminate the noise coming from passing trains, residents would see a reduction in noise. But Hughes said that the ultimate benefit of the project will be increased safety and more people filter in and out of downtown Oswego. While the process won’t be a short one or cheap, officials do feel it will be worth it in the end.

“It’s important that the improvements get done just to protect the drivers and pedestrians downtown,” Hughes said, adding that officials are working to identify more funding sources to help pay for the project.

“This is a long process, we’re working and we know some people would have liked for it to be done yesterday, but like everything else, it gets prioritized with everything else that needs to get done in the village.”