ANN ARBOR, MI – For those in Ann Arbor who find the sound of train horns late at night poetic and beautiful, as some say they do, there’s good news.

For others who consider it a noisy disturbance and want it to end, there’s bad news.

The blasting of freight train horns along the Ann Arbor Railroad may continue for years to come.

City leaders have dropped the idea of a railroad “quiet zone” from the city’s capital improvements plan, after it lacked support from residents and City Council.

In the new capital plan adopted by the Planning Commission, the previously proposed quiet-zone project is now listed as one of nine projects eliminated by staff.

Other projects cut: a downtown fire station remodeling, Fuller Road and Northside STEAM sidewalk gap projects, and some water main and sewer projects.

The city began exploring the idea of a railroad quiet zone two years ago, finding it would require several million dollars worth of improvements at railroad crossings — including new gates and signals — for the Federal Railroad Administration to allow a reduction in train horn noise.

City Administrator Howard Lazarus told council last June it could cost $6.6 million to $7.9 million. It was previously estimated at $9.2 million in the city’s capital plan.

Unless in a designated quiet zone, federal regulations require trains to sound their horns four times (two long, one short and one long) as they approach and go through each crossing.

That translates to dozens of horn blasts lasting several minutes as freight trains pass through Ann Arbor neighborhoods and downtown, both day and night.

The city netted nearly 700 responses to an online survey last year, with 73% saying they accept the impact of train horn noise and recommend no city investment to reduce it.

City spokesman Robert Kellar said city staff sent the project information to council last June, including the survey results showing the public overwhelmingly against spending the money, and it is and was up to council to give policy direction, but council has not moved forward on the issue.

Some council members, including Anne Bannister and Jeff Hayner, suggested last year it wasn’t worth the money, though Council Member Chip Smith, who lives within earshot of the tracks in the Old West Side, has advocated for quiet zones.

Smith, who is stepping down from council in November, said last year he doesn’t buy into the notion that train horns in the middle of the night are romantic.

He has suggested the various crossing upgrades could be made incrementally over a period of years.

Unless council decides to resurrect the project, for now it’s no longer in the city’s plans.

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