Elburn steps closer to silence

The nights of Elburn residents being awakened by the constant blaring horns of trains that pass through the village are now numbered, as village leaders received news that they now able to go ahead with the construction of a quiet zone.

After applying to the Federal Railroad Administration for the approval to establish a quiet zone, the village went through a 60-day comment period, which has now expired with no negative feedback, making them eligible to take the steps necessary to silence the whistles.

"If you want to file an objection, it's too late," said Elburn Village Administrator David Morrison. "We're free to begin construction."

In order to create the quiet zone, the village must construct 100-foot medians at the village's First Street and Pouley Road crossings that will have tall round tubes built into them.

"This is to prevent people from slaloming out onto the gate," explained Morrison.

No improvements are necessary on Rt. 47.

In addition, the village must also relocate a driveway currently located on the east side of First St., on the north side of the tracks.

The quiet zone would restrict the driveway which accesses Jahn's Structure Jacking Systems to be right in, right out, which is not conducive to the business's semi-traffic.

Once construction is completed, the village must send a notice to Union Pacific Railroad within 21 days to officially establish the zone.

Although a timeframe for completion has not been determined, trustees are eager to get the process completed as soon as possible, and beginning steps have already been taken.

The cost for constructing the quiet zone has also not been determined, although it is estimated that construction of the medians will be approximately $22,000 plus labor.

However, to trustees who have endured countless interruptions of their weekly meetings by the train horns, no cost is too great to silence them.

"I'm all set to have a fundraiser for this," said trustee Gordon Dierschow.