Town to RR: Quite, please
BNSF trains to enter village of Milan quiet zone soon

Workers on the Walter McBride Construction/Village of Milan railroad quiet zone project wind up the finish on curb work for the safety gate being installed. [Photo by Helen Davis/Independent]

By Helen Davis
Cibola County Bureau

MILAN — The big day for the little town finally arrived. After over two years of planning and frustration, work began on an anticipated whistle-free railroad crossing late last week.

The village of Milan and Walter McBride Construction announced that work is under way on the silent crossing in the village where New Mexico Highway 605 and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe racks cross near Historic Route 66.

Drivers traveling north or south on 605 can expect slowdowns because one lane in each direction is closed for construction, but should not encounter a full road closure, Village Manager Marcella Sandoval said. Actual construction work is expected to continue through the weekend; concrete will need to cure for a few days after, but the project is expected to ready by Tuesday.

Even with delays work should be completed by next Friday at the latest.

Grants contractor Walter McBride said he got the contract to do the work last June, but it has taken until winter to get all the permits cleared and all the agencies involved in the project in line. The silent crossing requires planning between the village of Milan, the New Mexico Department of Transportation, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad and the contractor, McBride. The process required also involves approval from all the agencies.

Sandoval and McBride said work started earlier in the week, but was shut down twice. The crossing cleared the Thursday’s DOT hurtle and was under construction Friday.

McBride said his crew is creating gutters, curbs and “blinders” in the center of the highway near the railroad crossing guard. The blinders are 3-foot-high physical barriers that prevent traffic from crossing the centerline and going around the crossing gate when a train is passing.

Without the barriers, drivers sometimes try to go around lowered safety arms, McBride said. Trains blow a warning as an additional safety measure as they near traffic areas, but will omit the whistle if a safety silent crossing is installed.

The silent crossing, sometimes called “the quiet zone” or “the railroad enhancement” has been on the table for more than two years.

“As long as it fixes it, I don’t care what they call it,” said Pat Rice. Rice and her husband Bob bought the Crossroads Motel near the crossing in 2006, believing that a quiet zone would be installed within weeks.

She said between the noise from trains blowing their whistles as they neared the crossing and the frightening clack-clack from old track, she lost substantial business from the time the couple bought the business. Rice said it has not been uncommon for a patron to stay a few hours, then check out because of the noise. BNSF fixed the ties and old track responsible for the clack-clack in 2007, but the whistle noise has remained.

She explained that an average of four to six trains an hour pass the crossing during the day, with up to seven an hour at night. All trains passing the crossing must blow whistles as a warning. Rice said one contractor expected to rent a room for himself for a year as well as rooms for crew of five, but canceled the contract within a week because of the whistle noise. The motel owner figures that in lodgers’ tax and sales tax from village businesses alone the village lost around $8,000 from one man’s experience with the noise. This figure does not include profits missed by local stores.

Rice said, “It’s wonderful. People in the neighborhood have been complaining.” Sandoval said she is glad the project is under way. “Ben (Chavez) is running around finding all the traffic cones he can,” she said.