Contact with Mike Williams

I found a listing of which cities in ND have "Quiet Zones", only one, Fargo. 

So I went online and looked up a contact from Fargo's City Council.  The contact was Mike Williams.  I emailed him asking for advice and help and here's what He said...

"It took 7 years but Fargo and Moorehead now have a quiet zone. Depending on the crossing, it can be about $250,000 for the required changes."

More Information To Come.......

Phone Call With Winona

I spoke with the Assistant City Manager for Economic Development, Judith Bodway.  She explained to me what Winona had to do to create a whistle free corridor.  

The city first made a ordinance .

Then to meet the guidelines set by the Federal Government they needed to add protection to the crossings.

What they did was eliminate roughly half of all crossings, they had many intersections most not protected by lighted gates.

Then they added medians to each intersection costing around ten thousand dollars per crossing. The medians are 300 feet long on each side.  Along with that they put lighted gates at each intersection to complete the process.

Senate Meeting

Today I talked with the President and Vice President of UND's Student Senate.  Some people have tried in the past to get this accomplished and they simply told them that it is too expensive. I will need to convince them that it effects enough people to make it worth the money.  

Now I will make a sheet for petitions and collect signatures. 

Meeting With Professor

Today I met with a law professor and he was able to give me advice on how to go about this project.  In short I should contact legislators of other towns who have silenced the train and how they got it passed.  Then collect signatures from people to present to the legislators in Grand Forks.  My goal is around one thousand.  Then meet with the legislators and get the process rolling.

Trains

This blog is the process of how I start the process of passing legislation to have the trains stop blowing the whistle and waking the residents of Grand Forks.