Noisy neighborhoods in Wyandotte County may eventually go away. The Unified Government is discussing a $5 million plan to quiet the increasing train traffic in Edwardsville and Bonner Springs.
About 54 trains go through an Edwardsville neighborhood every day.
The neighborhood where Chad Whiles and his family live.
“It's pretty loud, pretty loud,” he said.
"At night though it seems like every 15 to 20 minutes you have trains coming through,” said resident Courtney Holl.
The Unified Government commissioners are discussing a “quiet zone” designation for 11 crossings in Wyandotte County.
That includes adding sidewalks and more gates to block cars from crossing the tracks when a train is coming.
Those features would allow for trains to only blow their whistles when absolutely needed. Right now, they must sound their whistle every time they roll through. It’s law.
Resident Denise Brown calls the noise “irritating,” but disagrees with the price tag to halt it.
“That's a lot of money just to give them to stop blowing their horn,” Brown said.
She believes the county should pour that money into more serious projects.
“More public safety, more transportation. We need better transportation,” said Brown.
Unified Government officials declined to talk on camera, but Mayor Mark Holland issued this statement:
Although much of the Unified Government's budget allocates funds for services and projects in Kansas City, Kansas, we cannot forget that we have two other cities in Wyandotte County. I think it's entirely appropriate to give serious consideration to projects that stand to address the needs of the residents in Bonner Springs and Edwardsville, as well as deliver benefits to the entire county.
I support the investment in the Quiet Zone as we seek to mitigate the dramatic increase in train traffic on the route. I also support it as we seek to fund the improvements outlined in our recent K-32 study. This area presents a great opportunity for economic development in Wyandotte County.
It's important to remember that the quiet zone is just one of many proposals that could come before our governing body once the County Administrator presents his budget in early July. I look forward to that presentation, and to the challenge we face every year of balancing the need to fund necessary services and projects with the need to lower our tax rate.
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Lexi Sutter can be reached at lexi.sutter@kshb.com.
