advertisement

---

Rockland County, N.Y., officials recently reviewed 14 public grade crossings as part of a crossing safety and quiet zone project. The reviews marked the beginning of the project’s detailed design phase.

A review team analyzed the feasibility of gate delay timings, signal preemption, loop detection, approach circuitry distances and other safety measures necessary to create a quiet zone. The crossing reviews included representatives from several municipalities, county highway and planning departments, the New York State Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and CSX Transportation.

In January, the county received authorization from the New York DOT to proceed with detailed design work. Construction on the project — which could establish the first quiet zone in New York under a new FRA rule — is scheduled to begin in 2012, county officials said in a prepared statement.

The county’s consultants for the project include Bergmann Associates, XoRail, Shumaker Consulting, Engineering and Land Surveying PC, and R.K. Hite & Co. Inc. The county secured $3.6 million for the project in the 2005 federal transportation bill. The total cost for phase one — which involves the public crossings — is estimated at $6 million. Phase two would involve six private crossings.