A quiet zone (QZ) is an investment in Baker City’s health that will pay dividends indefinitely. La Grande initiated their QZ almost two years ago and much has improved since. I wish the same for Baker City residents. A QZ will limit intrusive train horn blasting which will increase your quality of life. Businesses will do better, property values will increase, which in turn is good for the city. QZ’s offer all these benefits, but most importantly, Quiet Zones are safer. Noise is a well-established risk factor for poor sleep (duh!), stress, anxiety, hypertension, and poor learning. La Grande motel owners lost business due to this noise. One owner kept track and found he’d lost $9,000 in 2016 alone, counting only obvious cases. Many customers say nothing and never return. Countless others read scathing reviews on Yelp or TripAdvisor and kept driving. The motel owner’s stories are chilling: “If horns blast while they are checking in — they leave. If the horns blast after they’ve settled in- they will return to the office, request a refund and leave. I will never see these people again!”

Train horns discourage people from relaxing and enjoying your shops, restaurants and lodging.

QZ’s are safer by requirement. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has detailed guidelines to ensure your QZ is safer than before. The FRA has exhaustive information on the accident history of every crossing in the United States. Experience shows that certain physical barriers are more effective than horns at preventing mishaps. Barriers are better than horns at preventing accidents. Like Baker City, we in La Grande were misled to believe these improvements would cost millions. We ended up spending about $200,000 — including some extra, unrequired improvements to an intersection. Engineers are still allowed to sound horns in emergencies at their discretion but are no longer required to routinely use four blasts at every crossing. If you love train horns take heart, you’ll still hear them from crossings outside the QZ, just not so loudly!

John Winters

La Grande