Lehi City News
Train horns continue to irritate locals as cities rush mandated crossing repairs
By Matt Hemmert | Lehi Free Press
Lehi residents who used to enjoy living in the railway quiet zone have endured locomotive horns at every crossing since the beginning of October. Those residents will need to endure the horns at all hours for some time to come.
The quiet zone from Salt Lake City to Provo was established by a 2012 interlocal agreement among Salt Lake City, South Salt Lake, Murray, South Jordan, Sandy, Draper, Bluffdale, Lehi, American Fork, Vineyard, and Provo. Lehi was designated as the point of contact for all member cities because it had the most at-grade crossings: six.
The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) and Union Pacific Railroad (UP) own, operate, and maintain the railway tracks and associated crossing infrastructure. However, the interlocal agreement states that “each city shall be solely reliable to maintain safety features located within its respective boundaries outside of the UTA and Union Pacific Railway owned right of way, including raised medians, pavement markings and signs within the highway rights of way.”
From 2012 through 2021, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) did not inspect any crossings in the quiet zone. However, in 2021, the FRA performed a partial inspection and created a report that identified general concerns but did not identify or target specific crossings in its report.
In April 2024, the FRA informed Lehi that certain at-grade crossings in the quiet zone were out of compliance. Between April and August, the cities with noncompliant crossings worked to create project plans and timelines for making the needed changes. The cities also had to coordinate repairs with UTA and UP, making upgrades more challenging.
In August, the FRA demanded a 30-day remediation plan for noncompliant at-grade crossings. Lehi Traffic Engineer Luke Seegmiller quickly organized and coordinated an official response from the cities. On September 18, the consolidated remediation plan, including timelines, was sent to the FRA.
The FRA responded to the Seegmiller’s remediation plan on September 30 and ordered that within seven days of that date, and until all crossings within the quiet zone are brought into full compliance, all locomotives passing through all crossings in the quiet zone must sound a horn at any time of day. To some Lehi officials, this seemed, and still seems, absolute overkill.
Seegmiller contacted all other impacted cities to quickly address the identified crossings, at times working closely together to address the availability of resources and contractors. UTA and UP also streamlined processes to help alleviate the growing complaints about the mandated horn soundings.
The FRA completed a subsequent inspection on October 9 and identified additional noncompliant crossings. Seegmiller asked the FRA to reestablish the quiet zone once the issues identified in April were completed and to provide extra time to address the new issues identified on October 9. The FRA refused this request.
Examining the regulations implicated by the FRA demonstrates that subjectivity and pragmatism seem to be nonexistent during recent inspections. For example, the regulations state that a roadway at an at-grade crossing must be divided by a six-inch high concrete median that extends 100 feet from the crossing arm in a down position. Several crossings were previously deemed compliant with the last five feet of the 100-foot median tapered to a plowable end. Plowable ends reduce damage to vehicles and snow plows that may strike the median. However, the FRA has now mandated strict compliance and insists that an entire 100-foot median be six inches tall.
Seegmiller hopes that the remaining crossings in other cities within the quiet zone can be repaired by October 25. But despite an attempt to coordinate across cities, UTA, and UP, it may be sometime in November before Lehi residents get relief from the seemingly incessant blaring of train horns.
