Public Safety

San Diego Train Crossings Getting Silent Treatment

By Ed Joyce / Reporter

Published August 19, 2010 at 11:34 AM PDT

This story was published more than 13 years ago.

Thousands of people are looking forward to more silent nights in downtown San Diego. A ceremony Thursday marked the start of a construction project to create "quiet zones."

The nearly $21 million project will create safety features, such as additional gates, road medians, traffic signals, signs and warning lights at 12 railroad crossings.

Modernizing the crossings means trains won't use their horns as often. Creating "quiet zones" would allow Amtrak and other trains to pass silently.

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Reducing horn noise is music to the ears of Gary Smith, who lives in downtown San Diego, and has put up with early morning train horns for years.

"The horns blast at 2:15 in the morning, yes, it's a problem," said Smith. "There are 38 railroad trains a day not counting the San Diego Trolley, and each one of those has to blow its horn or whistles at more than 12 crossings."

Other railway users include Burlington Northern, the San Diego Trolley and the North County Transit District Coaster.

Construction at the crossings will also add pedestrian gates, curb ramps and roadway modifications.

When work is complete late next year, people living near the crossing, like Gary Smith, will be able to sleep more soundly.

Public Safety

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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