The City of Wayzata wanted to investigate the possibility of creating a train whistle quiet zone at four identified at-grade rail crossings. The City selected SRF to assist them in the identification of selected safety improvements at each crossing. As part of the preliminary assessment study phase, SRF led various discussions with officials from the City, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway. SRF facilitated these meetings and developed consensus on crossing improvements at all four locations. SRF worked with the City to identify median improvements to increase vehicular safety at three crossings within the quiet zone. All three crossings posed some very unique access issues that needed to be addressed throughout the design phase of the project.
Another significant feature of this project is that one of the four crossing locations is a private crossing that is open to the public for pedestrians only (no public vehicle access). This pedestrian-only crossing, located off of Broadway Avenue, accesses a public boat landing and is located near a busy restaurant dining area in downtown Wayzata. The need to design safe pedestrian crossing improvements at this location was critical for the project’s overall success. Specific pedestrian improvements that were developed at the Broadway Avenue crossing included designing and enhancing a pedestrian maze and increased signs.
The City currently has a quiet zone in place since one of the medians was built in 2008. The other two medians were built in 2010.