Container Top
Search

Events Calendar

EVENT SEARCH:

In This Section


Most Read Stories


Blogs:


First Bell - On Education:
No City of Akron basketball tonight

Pets:
Pet telethon re-airs

The Heldenfiles:
Chipmunks "Squeakquel" on DVD/BD March 30

Akron Zips:
Late surge gives Zips ugly road win

Tribe Matters:
Blogmail response on Hafner

Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth's contract terminated

Balanced Ledger:
QB in Browns future: another mock draft

Kent State Sports:
KSU Notes – February 9

Cleveland Cavaliers:
NBA Power Rankings from Around the Internet

Buckeye Blogging:
Buckeyes grab 18 players on signing day

Varsity Letters:
Garfield at Buchtel basketball

All Da King's Men:
Palin At The Tea Party Convention

Blog of Mass Destruction:
Republican Pre-Conditions

Akron Law Café:
Citizens United v. F.E.C. (Part 4): Kennedy's and O'Connor's Basic Approaches to Constitutional Decisionmaking – Top Down and Bottom Up

Car Chase:
Collector Car Hobby Loses One of the Best—Jim Roll

Let's Talk Real Estate:
Decisions Decisions: Credit Cards or Your Mortgage?

Ohio Travels with Betty:
Loucile is looking for a Lake Erie getaway in June for three kids, ages 1, 3, and 5.

Sound Check:
Talk of the Town – Top entertainment picks for the weekend

HRLite House:
Track HR Research

Akron Gamer:
Makers of 'Castle Crashers' unveil 'BattleBlock Theater'

See Jane Style:
Do IT this week: Layering

Rail quiet zone to cost $168,000

Train horns may be silenced at Macedonia crossing; safety upgrade required

By Rick Armon
Beacon Journal staff writer

MACEDONIA: A proposal to silence the train whistles and improve safety at the Norfolk Southern railroad crossing at Twinsburg Road will cost about $168,000, advocates said.

Now they just have to find the money for the project.

Hudson resident Greg McNeil, who lives near the crossing, launched an effort earlier this year to create a federally recognized ''quiet zone'' at the railroad tracks, located in a residential area where Macedonia, Hudson, Northfield Center Township and Boston Heights meet.

A recently completed preliminary engineering study estimated that required circuitry upgrades will cost $136,000. The other expenses involve building and installing medians for motorists, and railroad-related fees.

McNeil and Macedonia Mayor Don Kuchta, who backs the effort, said they must finalize the budget and then will seek funding for the project.

U.S. Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Bainbridge Township, has pledged his support. The congressman is checking to see if there is any money available from the Ohio Department of Transportation. If not, he will pursue funding in the federal highway bill next year, LaTourette spokeswoman Deborah Setliff said.

Macedonia also is interested in creating a roundabout at the nearby intersection of Twinsburg and Valley View roads, and combining the projects could possibly free up some government money, Kuchta said.

''I don't want to see anybody killed at either the railroad tracks or this intersection,'' he said.

McNeil's goal is to have the quiet zone in place by Memorial Day. He and others are pushing to mute the railroad horns because the number of trains using the tracks there has tripled over the past several years to more than 70 a day.

A 2005 law allows communities to petition the Federal Railroad Administration for quiet zones. If a community proves it can upgrade safety at the crossing, then the horns can be silenced, either 24 hours a day or just overnight.

Today, there are more than 300 quiet zones in the United States. For more details on quiet zones, go online to: http://www.fra.dot.gov/us/content/1318.


Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com.

MACEDONIA: A proposal to silence the train whistles and improve safety at the Norfolk Southern railroad crossing at Twinsburg Road will cost about $168,000, advocates said.

Get the full article here.



Story tools

Email  Email   Print  Print   Save  Save   Reprint  Reprint   Popular  Most Popular   Reprint  Subscribe

Share this story

AddThis Social Bookmark Button


toby galownia

Posted 05:24 AM, 11/03/2008

Wouldn't earplugs be cheaper?


May Fong
akron, oh

Posted 08:40 AM, 11/03/2008

Hudson resident Greg McNeil, WAAAAAAA

Let Greg pay for it. He lives in hudson. He Cant be too poor can he...

Since he is the one with the complaint..


Disarmed
Yo Mama, PA

Posted 09:34 AM, 11/03/2008

The economy is in the crapper and this idiot wants the government to spend MORE. Raise the funds on your own Mr. McNeil!!!


word
akron, oh

Posted 03:08 PM, 11/03/2008

What an idiot. He buys a house by train tracks and then whines about it. And LaTourette promises money that does not exist to solve the problem. And people wonder why the economy is in such bad shape.


Jake
Akron, Oh

Posted 03:41 PM, 11/03/2008

Good point tim. Just like those who buy a house next to an airport and complain about the noise or those who establish a business next to a major public university and complain about its physical growth and use of eminent domain.














Most Commented Stories