Rountree Quiet Zone

Citizen Feedback

The City of Springfield continues to review Rountree neighborhood residents' comments and suggestions, following a public meeting last week on a proposed railroad quiet zone and safety enhancements. More than 100 citizens and a group of city officials discussed a proposed $1 million project, which would have installed gates at three railroad intersections and permanently closed three others. The intent of the plan was to make those intersections safer and decrease train noise. The majority of residents of the neighborhood disagreed with the proposed plans.

The City will not proceed with temporary or permanent closures of any streets at this time. The Planning Department will spend the next 3-4 weeks reviewing and preparing responses to all of the comments.

Planning will provide a report to City Council in September to include all the comments, responses and alternatives for proceeding, including not doing anything.

Survey Results Thus far

Results of the "yes/no" questions below are current as of this morning.

Download all citizen comments.

Question 1

The City is considering a project that would improve safety conditions, facilitate train movements, and reduce noise pollution in the Rountree Neighborhood. This will include closing Weller, Madison and Delaware at the rail crossing. Based on the information you have do you support this initiative?

Question 2

As a part of this initiative the City is considering temporarily closing vehicular access at the intersections of the railroad and Weller, Madison, and Delaware to determine the impact on the neighborhood of permanent closure. Do you support a temporary closure of those streets to measure the impact and changes in traffic flows throughout Rountree Subdivision?

The Proposal

Through a partnership between the City of Springfield, BNSF Railway, and MoDOT, the safety of train and vehicle/pedestrian interactions can be improved in the Rountree Neighborhood. The proposed improvements will result in trains no longer being required to routinely sound their horns when traveling through the neighborhood, creating a Quiet Zone. In order to increase safety and facilitate the creation of the Quiet Zone, the following improvements would have to be made to the existing street crossings at six locations:

• Walnut St. Crossing: Add supplemental safety measures to include gates and a raised median.
• Elm St. Crossing: Add supplemental safety measures to include gates and a raised median.
• Cherry St. Crossing: Add supplemental safety measures to include gates and a raised median.
• Weller St. Crossing: Permanent street closure.
• Delaware St. Crossing: Permanent street closure.
• Madison St. Crossing: Permanent street closure.

The improvements described above would be jointly funded by the City of Springfield, BNSF Railway, and MoDOT. The total cost is estimated at approximately $950,000. The majority of the funding is being provided by BNSF Railway and MoDOT. The City will be funding street and sidewalk improvements.

Additional Resources

• Traffic accidents and volumes in Rountree (3 mb)
• Street-Rail accidents (Federal Rail Administration)