Broadway Crossing Update

Press release from the Town of Wakefield:

November 24, 2020

The MBTA crossing at Broadway did not open as anticipated after construction by the MBTA, National Grid, Wakefield DPW, and Wakefield Gas and Light was completed on October 23. Before the crossing can open to traffic, approvals from the Federal Railway Administration (FRA) are required. We wanted to provide residents with a better understanding of the situation and why the site remains closed.

Wakefield is a pre-rule quiet zone community, having attained quiet-zone status prior to the FRA’s federal rule update in 1999. Trains do not have to blow their horns at each roadway crossing in a community with a quiet zone. To maintain this status, Wakefield must provide updates on a three-year cycle with analysis of the safety measures in place at each crossing. The safety measures, analyzed with a combination of current traffic counts and updated accident reports, calculate the corridor’s risk-index. This risk index must be below the FRA’s country-wide threshold to retain the quiet zone designation.

Independent of the Broadway-crossing construction, the FRA instituted new inspection protocols for quiet zones throughout the northeast. These in-person evaluations have already started in Massachusetts. While the recent roadwork accelerated Wakefield’s inspection timeline, our corridor likely would have been reviewed by the FRA within the next year.

During its inspection, the FRA reviewed all crossings in the entire corridor, not just the Broadway site. The organization initially deemed Wakefield’s corridor to be out of quiet-zone compliance and recommended adjustments for us to consider; the elimination of vehicular traffic through the Broadway crossing has allowed us to remain below the quiet-zone’s risk threshold. We are evaluating options with the FRA at all crossings to allow Broadway to open and maintain our quiet zone status. Unfortunately, while the evaluation is being conducted, and until the updates are installed, Broadway must remain closed.

You may wonder why we cannot simply allow train horns temporarily while these plans are being completed. As a pre-rule quiet zone area, the criteria we must meet is less stringent that a newly created quiet zone. If we relinquish our pre-rule status, we would be held to the higher standard when we reapply. This would be a more time consuming process and likely require very expensive modifications to our crossings. Eliminating our quiet zone status, however, is an option that may need to be examined.

Our Engineering Department is currently reviewing the risk assessment calculations at all crossings and is creating a reopening proposal. This will likely include near-term improvements and longer-term adjustments. This proposal will then require FRA approval. Rest assured, the teams are investigating all options to reopen Broadway as quickly as possible.

We thank commuters, residents, and businesses for their patience in this complex situation. While we cannot provide a definitive timeline for the reopening, we plan to have another update at a Town Council meeting in the coming weeks.

This press release was produced by the Town of Wakefield. The views expressed here are the author’s own.