Council to consider funding for quiet zone project A $1.3 million bond would make Edison second in state with zone BY TOM CAIAZZA Staff Writer Come June, if you listen closely, you just might hear the trains. But it's doubtful. The Edison Township Council is expected to approve a $1.3 million bond Wednesday night that would pay for building the state's second quiet zone around the train intersections of Inman Avenue and Tingley Avenue. ERIC SUCAR staff A car crosses the Conrail track at Inman Avenue, the future site of a quiet zone. Conrail recently finished installing a second track along this route, and a quiet zone, the second in the state, would limit noise from the trains' horns. The project, a promise from the township when Conrail announced last March that it would be laying a second train track through Edison, would create a state-of-the-art grade crossing that will limit noise from passing cargo trains on the Lehigh Valley line that bisects the state on its way to and from the ports of Newark, Elizabeth and Bayonne. Federal law requires trains crossing at grade level (i.e., street level) to announce their presence through prolonged bursts of their horns. Those crossings can happen at all hours of the day and night. According to Anthony Massaro, vice president of the Township Council, the noise from the trains' horns has been a sore spot for residents near Inman and Tingley avenues. PHOTOS BY ERIC SUCAR staff Above, the second track is part of a push by Conrail to increase productivity on its Lehigh Valley line. Edison Township opposed the second track, built on a federal right of way. At right, the current rail crossing bars at the grade crossing of Inman Avenue in Edison will be replaced with new technology meant to better keep cars from being stuck between the bars and zig-zagging through the bars while they are down. But now it seems the township is poised to be the second in the state to implement a quiet zone, where state-of-the-art technology will provide enough vehicular safety to allow for a moratorium on the blaring of train horns in the area. The trains will instead roll right through, sure in the knowledge that the updated technology of the "zone" will help prevent any possible train/vehicle collisions at the crossings. Mayor Jun Choi said that the township is hoping to receive federal and state funding to offset most if not all of the cost of the project. "We really want to drive this issue and just get it done," said Choi. "To accelerate the pace of the project, we're going to bond money, most of which we're hoping to recoup. We're hoping to recoup most if not all." The quiet zones use what are known as four-quadrant gates, which reduce the risk of cars being caught inside the crossing and will not allow drivers to skirt around the bars, endangering themselves and the train. The technology uses power-outage indicators, constant warning circuitry and advanced highway warning signs, all in an effort to make the blaring of train horns unnecessary. According to Massaro, the quiet zone is the only federally sanctioned way around the horn rule and is a fairly new prospect, having been approved only within the past few years. "By June 2008 we will have done what was impossible to do a number of years ago," he said. Westfield is the only other municipality to implement a quiet zone. "When I first got involved in the issue in 1997 or 1998," Massaro said, "there was no possibility of a quiet zone. By lobbying the Legislature and congressmen, it was made possible if you met certain conditions." Those conditions have been met, and with the completion of the second rail line, the timing is right for the quiet zone, Massaro said. "The last and biggest piece of the puzzle," he said, referring to the bond being voted on Wednesday, "is finding the funding to make it work." Jerry Barca, the communications director for Choi's administration, said that the mayor has been and still is committed to seeing the quiet zone idea through to fruition, echoing the mayor's promise last March. "The important thing is that for more than a decade, there have been noise complaints about this," Barca said. "This administration is committed because it is a quality-of-life issue and a safety issue." The township vigorously opposed the laying of a second track in the area, but the right of way is federally owned and the township essentially had no options in fighting it. "We were not able to stop the second track, and that was [due to] forces larger than Edison," Massaro said. "We weren't able to get that done, but we were able to do this." Barca said that he wished Conrail had been more forthcoming with the concerns the township had with the project, but said that the township was doing what it could for the "safety of the residents." "It will be a great benefit to the community," Barca said. "We're committed to it and we're happy to move forward, because it has been a long-standing issue in the area." Choi said that the goal from the beginning was to have the project completed by the end of the second fiscal quarter of 2008. He said the process is moving well. "It's never fast enough for the resident," Choi said, "but this is quite expeditious for normal government." The Township Council is expected to consider the bond issue at Wednesday's meeting. If passed, Massaro said the next step is to go out to bid. But he does not see it being the final step. "Once June of 2008 happens, we'll start looking for inspiration and concepts for the next phase," he said, referring to possible projects to alleviate increased traffic expected in the area in the coming years. "But I'm going to enjoy this for a while," Massaro said. The council meeting is scheduled for Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. in council chambers at the municipal building.