The horns of summer

July 24--In may be late summer before the BNSF trains traveling through Jamestown stop blowing their horns and the quiet zone returns, according to city officials.

"It's a safety issue," said Sarah Hellekson, Jamestown city administrator. "The only reason the trains blow their horn is to let people know they are coming through, and until the gate is back up we want people to be safe and aware."

The trains had been running without horns through Jamestown since 2011 until a pedestrian maze was damaged following a June 25 collision at the intersection of 1st Avenue North and 1st Street East. A distracted driver reportedly rear-ended a pickup truck and continued on to strike the pedestrian maze and a light pole at the rail crossing, according to the Jamestown Police Department.

The pedestrian mazes on either side of three downtown railroad crossings require people to turn left and right while walking through in order to see oncoming trains from either direction. Until the damaged pedestrian maze on the east side of 1st Avenue North is repaired BNSF announced that its trains are required by federal law to sound horns going through the three downtown crossings.

"The train horn is being sounded for the safety of pedestrians using that crossing," said Amy McBeth, director of BNSF public affairs. "We've made the city aware that the horn will be sounded there until the repairs are complete."

Jamestown Mayor Dwaine Heinrich said he has received several calls from residents who are concerned about the noise. He said the concerns are understandable and the city has done all it can to expedite the process.

"These crosswalk fabrications were specifically made for Jamestown and are not something you keep spare parts to have on hand when there is damage," Heinrich said. "Everything has to go back to the original fabricator."

Six weeks may sound like a long time but it is an acceptable time frame for similar construction projects, he said. He asked residents to appreciate how much more noise there was at the time the quiet zone was passed in 2008 and there were more trains running though Jamestown each day.

"We had five crossings and the horns sounded almost nonstop," Heinrich said. "What we have now is a small fraction of the sound that we had before this was enacted."

Harold Sad, foreman of the Jamestown Streets Department, said the repairs to the pedestrian maze are being made by MidMach, the Jamestown metal fabrication company that was contracted to build the iron structure in 2009. The work is expected to be completed in mid- to late August, he said.

Casey Veil of MidMach said in a phone message left in response to a request for comment from The Sun that parts are ordered and work on the pedestrian maze would be completed according to the work schedule of the company.

"Once it is repaired then Newman Signs will install it," Sad said. "The railroad will be notified and the horns will cease."

The cost of the repair is not known at this time, Sad said. The insurance company of the individual who struck the pedestrian maze will be expected to cover the replacement cost, he said.

Voters approved the quiet zone in 2009. The project included pedestrian mazes for the crossings at 2nd Avenue Northwest, 1st Avenue North and 2nd Avenue Northeast and cost $500,000, some of which were funded by federal grants.

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