LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - The Village Meadows neighborhood, near 70th and Pine Lake was quiet Tuesday afternoon. The only things that could be heard was wind rustling in the trees and the faint sound of Highway 2 traffic in the distance.
“It’s quiet,” Lee Bumgarner, who lives near 64th and Pine Lake said.
At least it was when Bumgarner and his wife bought their home four years ago after searching for the perfect place to raise their kids.
“There’s a ton of families around, 50 kids in just a few blocks,” Bumgarner said. “With the school right up the street.”
Their home backs right up to the tracks that run along Highway 2, and since the beginning of the year, their quiet neighborhood is woken up by train horns, blaring in the middle of the night, waking up their children.
The horns have people who live in this area, and other neighborhoods along the train tracks calling for quiet zones.
“Sleep is so important for kids you don’t want your kids to be in that environment that’s one thing you want to provide for them is a place where they can get a full nights sleep,” Bumgarner said.
The Railraod Transportation Safety District took the issue up at its board meeting Tuesday morning.
“There are some legitimate concerns here,” Jane Raybould, city councilor who sits on the board said. “I don’t think the issue is during the day, its at night.”
The Village Meadows neighborhood did a survey of 164 people in the area. It found 67% of respondents say quiet zones are affecting their quality of life, 81% said the trains are too loud and 70% said there should be quiet zones.
The trains in question have been running since Jan. 1, after sitting vacant for years until NPPD and BNSF struck a deal in 2020.
The trains run on the tracks on average twice a day. Though sometimes it could skip a day and make two round trips the next.
Roger Figard, head of the Railroad Safety Transportation District, said a train took 44 trips on the tracks in January and 40 in February. The trains don’t run on a schedule, and people tell 10/11 NOW they typically hear a horn in the middle of the night every other week.
He said other than then noise complaints it’s been going well, but even in just the first two days of March, eight complaints have landed on Figard’s desk.
“Frustration, concern over the actual noise of the trains, that they’re running at night and they don’t know when they’re going to come,” Figard said.
The residents are asking for quiet zones at the 11 crossings in city limits. Figard said the first step in making this happen is a study to determine what safety equipment would have to be added at each crossing. The study, costs $100,000. Implementing the changes could cost millions.
“We can put in the equipment and file for a quiet zone,” Figard said. “But it really comes down to money and priorities.”
The RTSD board voted to approve spending up to $100,000 on the feasibility study. Figard said it will be a few months until it is complete. If quiet zones are approved, it would likely be more than a year before the changes would be implemented.
Bumgarner is urging the RTSD board to seriously consider spending the money necessary.
“Its their job to take care of the citizens,” Bumgarner said. “Families getting woken up at night is a huge health issue.”
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“Sleep is so important,” Parents call for quiet zones along south Lincoln train tracks - KOLN
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