Broken Bow medians quiet trains

BROKEN BOW, Neb. — They don’t look like much at first glance, the narrow medians jutting up in the middle of the road on either side of two railroad crossings.

But since Sept. 1, those medians have allowed Broken Bow’s east side to finally experience some respite from the horns of the trains that regularly rush through town.

And for the rest of the town, it’s just a taste of what’s to come when the project’s finished.

“It’s made a difference at the first two crossings, to the point where people are saying, ‘Let’s get this thing finished,’” said Scott Spanel, a Broken Bow city councilman and owner of a small business on the town’s east side.

Raised medians prevent the need for the loud train horns because they go all the way to the crossbars, keeping cars from being able to cross the tracks when the bar is down.

After three years of planning and negotiating, Broken Bow’s first railroad quiet zone went into effect last month.

The town also has in its sights the completion of quiet zone projects at three other intersections and the closure of a fourth, which would make Broken Bow the first town in Nebraska with a citywide quiet zone.

Broken Bow is one of three communities in the area trying to establish quiet zones under a 2005 federal ruling. Aurora has installed raised medians at its First Street crossing and is awaiting a quiet zone designation on it. Aurora also plans to install wayside horns — which blow directly toward oncoming traffic when trains are approaching — at two other intersections. Grand Island is also considering quiet zones.

Broken Bow’s plan is the most extensive, with six intersections involved. The First and Fifth Avenue crossings became a quiet zone last month, and the city is waiting for paperwork to be completed in order for wayside horns to be installed at its Ninth and 10th Avenue crossings downtown, said City Council President Mike Evans.

The council voted to close the 14th Avenue crossing earlier this year, and Evans said the town is waiting on paperwork for that to be finished, too. The last crossing to be renovated will be the Memorial Drive crossing on the town’s west side, which will see work begin after the 14th Avenue crossing is closed.

Support has only grown since the first quiet zone was established, once businesses and residents on the town’s east side could hear the difference.

Evans estimated the entire project’s cost will end up at about $450,000, but he said it’s been well worth the price and effort. His Evans Feed Co. office sits just a few dozen feet from the tracks on 10th Avenue, and train horns have made doing business difficult.

“You can’t even hear when you’re next to people, talking to each other,” Evans said. “It’s just very annoying.”