The Jacoby Street rail crossing was not included in phase 1 or 2 of San Rafael’s Quiet Zone implementation because the crossing was a private crossing at the end of the line and by Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) rules quiet zones cannot begin or end at a private crossing. The City asked SMART to close the crossing to ensure no train horns sound while we puzzled through how to make Jacoby Street a public crossing, and thus eligible to be in the quiet zone. After more than a year and lots or hard work and cooperation between Federal, State and Local government, San Rafael issued a Notice of Establishment (NOE) on December 2nd for the quiet zone at Jacoby Street. The notice starts a 20-day notification period at which time (December 22nd) the quiet zone will be established. The FRA requires additional signage and other notification devices where quiet zones exist and San Rafael jumped into action to get the appropriate signs installed.
Shown here is Tyler Nord, and Brendan Smith’s shoe, installing a hand fabricated bracket to hold one of the signs, and in the other photo, the installed sign ready for December 22nd. The signs will be bagged until the quiet zone is in effect.
