Soon, Plant City residents will be noticing some major infrastructure improvements in the heart of the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World.
Plans to move forward with creating railroad quiet zones and improving rundown streets were announced at a community chat with City Manager Mike Herr on Friday, April 15, at the Robert W. Willaford Train Museum in Historic Downtown.
Herr developed a plan to start holding the quarterly meetings in September, and held the first meeting in October. The meetings include an update on city ongoings, as well as presentations from other community leaders, city employees and organizations.
At the April 16 meeting, Herr introduced City Engineer Michael Schenk to discuss rail and road improvements.
Silent Rail
The City of Plant City initially announced in October plans to look into establishing quiet zones, a section of a rail line where locomotives travel through public crossings without the sounding of horns. Now, the city is one step closer to that goal. Quiet zones must be at least one-half mile in length.
Schenk announced Friday that the Florida Department of Transportation granted the City of Plant City $165,000 dollars to use for necessary quiet zone safety improvements. Previously, the City Commission made investigating funding options for establishing quiet zones one of its 2016 legislative priorities, and the City applied for state funding on Feb. 29.
“This is very good news for the city,” Schenk said. “We’re very pleased that we got awarded the matching funds.”
To be both legal and safe, quiet zones require multiple rail gates, including four-quadrant gates, as well as gates with medians, flashing lights at rail gates and one-way streets with gates. Funding for quiet zones will vary based on what safety features are necessary at rail crossings, and the establishment of such zones must be approved jointly by CSX, FDOT, the City of Plant City and the Federal Railroad Administration.
The City is looking to establish quiet zones in Midtown and Historic Downtown.
Prior to applying for state funding, the City of Plant City had Tampa firm King Engineering review the city’s rail crossings. Based on the necessary safety features required, King Engineering established that the railroad crossings at Collins Street and State Road 39, as well as the crossing at Wheeler Street, will need improvements.
The Collins Street crossing has a parking lot exit that leads to the area, meaning that a gate must be installed for the exit. The Wheeler Street crossing also has a parking area exit, and requires the installation of double gates.
In total, the safety improvements are estimated at $280,000. The grant from FDOT will cover just over half of the necessary infrastructure improvements.
The required improvements will be installed by a CSX contractor, Schenk said.
“CSX will be responsible for the construction,” he said.
The City still must do a final, extensive review of all rail crossings where quiet zones could be. The remaining funding for safety improvements, Schenk said, will likely come out of the City’s CRA fund.
Smooth Ride
City leaders announced that local roads also will receive infrastructure improvements at the April meeting. This summer, road improvements will begin on Vermont Street, located adjacent to Jackson Elementary School. The design plans, created by local firm Boggs Engineering, are 90% complete.
“Originally it was a totally failed street,” City Engineer Michael Schenk said.
Construction will begin the week of June 10, when students are out for summer break. Improvements to the street include adding a new drainage system to the road, and resurfacing the road from Baker Street to Calhoun Street.
“We’re hoping to get most of the construction complete before school reopens to not interrupt bus traffic,” Schenk said.
Contact Emily Topper at etopper@plantcityobserver.com.