Tupelo's "quiet zone" project 'long time coming,' longer still to complete

TUPELO — The history of Tupelo is long and storied, but its humble beginnings started much the way many smaller towns began around the state and country, with the railroad. Over 150 years later, the city grapples with that legacy.

Trains must make their presence known through multiple avenues, the most effective is through blaring their horns. There are two lines that run through the city, one that runs through the heart of the town, bisecting it at what residents call crosstown. The other runs vertically through the east end of town. With each intersection, a train uses its horn to warn traffic.

“It’s become part of our the daily fabric of our lives,” City Engineer Dennis Bonds said. “Tupelo is here because of the railroads, and they have been fantastic to work with…. We chose to grow around the railroad.”

The city is attempting to quiet the trains through upgrades to about a dozen crossings. These upgrades allow the city to request areas to become “quiet zones,” through Federal Railroad Administration approval. The city already upgraded two crossings last year, the crossings at Park and Spring streets, but the process takes time and money. To facilitate this project and other railroad improvements, Tupelo will receive $7.7 million in federal funding through legislative appropriation.

“This is something that can have a tremendous positive impact for the City of Tupelo,” Bonds said, noting this is something he’s been working on since he joined the city in 2019. “The most important step is identifying the funding, and we’ve done that at this point.”

The two lines are operated by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF), which runs diagonally through the city and the Canadian National Railway, which recently purchased Kansas City Southern, the railroad company that previously ran through the city, moving north and south through Tupelo.

Federal regulations require trains to sound warnings before crossing a road, but federally designated quiet zones — a section of track that has safety features like crossing arms and flashing lights — lets railroads waive federal regulations on when and for how long to sound a warning upon crossing a road.

Crossing upgrades are complex, time consuming

There are about 20 railroad crossings throughout Tupelo. The federal railroad administration minimum for a quiet zone is half-a-mile of track with crossing up to quiet zone standards, including flashing lights, crossing arms and medians.

Bonds said the city’s goal is to upgrade 11 crossings with the money allocated to the project. Two of the 11 have already been upgraded, leaving just nine. Bonds said the city estimates each crossing will take about $500,000 to complete for a $5.5 million total, including design and engineering costs.

This will form three quiet zones, one on the north end of town and another on the south end, meeting at cross town, which officials said they and cannot find a method to bring up to quiet zone standards, meaning that once this project is complete, the only place a warning will be necessary will be at the intersection of Gloster and Main streets. The third quiet zone will run the length of the CNR line.

There are a few ways these upgrades can go. Through a $1 million grant the city received from the Mississippi Department of Transportation, the city upgraded Park and Spring streets crossings, adding a median barrier that makes it impossible to turn around or weave between the crossing arms among other things.

While effective, Jordan said he wasn’t keen on the design and said the city will explore other options throughout the process such as gates that have the same function. He said it is important to understand the scope of the project and the time it will take to complete.

“It just takes so much time when you are dealing with any big project, especially when you’re dealing with the railroad,” Jordan said. “It may be a couple of years before you see some construction.”

Jordan said the city plans to start at one side of crosstown, moving either north or south, and once it is complete, the city will upgrade the other side.

Just making the upgrades does not give the city the power to tell the trains to pipe down, Bonds noted. It is ultimately up to the FRA to approve a quiet zone, not city ordinance.

The timeline for the project is uncertain, Bonds said, noting he wished he could say the project was complete by next year, but it is still in the planning stages.

“I wish as we sat here we’d say, ‘Hey, June of 2025, all of this is going to be in place.’ That is just not a realistic answer. It is going to take some time,” he said. “Behind the scenes, we’ve been working really hard on it.”

Both federal and state legislators advocate for Tupelo railroad improvements

U.S. Senator Roger Wicker had a hand in bringing the funds back to his home region. He said the project was a ‘long time coming,’ and will increase not only safety in the city but also commerce.

“This is a long-term goal that I have participated in since I was in my 20s. It is something that I’ve advocated for as a state senator, a United States House Representative and now as a United States Senator,” he said. “Its been a long time coming and very frustrating, but we are at the point where this is going to be a reality…. It is wonderful to see a long-term goal come to fruition.”

Wicker noted one challenge Tupelo faces is the rail line’s direction. Because BNSF’s line runs diagonally through the city, there are more crossings packed close together.

Jordan said he was extremely proud to see federal politicians were willing to help with the project.

“If they could fix our railroad problem tomorrow they would, but their hands are tied,” Mayor Todd Jordan said of state and federal legislators. “It is not anything that happens overnight, but it is rewarding that we are getting the attention of legislators.”

This isn’t the only project the city has in store for train infrastructure within city limits. The city previously got $4.6 million from the state for railroad improvements as well as $1.5 million from the United States Department of Transportation’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity program.

These funding sources will go not just to the quiet zone project but also to a project that will see an overpass built at the Eason Boulevard crossing and moving the city’s rail switching operation. The city hopes the overpass will give traffic relief and quicker passage to the Northeast Mississippi Medical Center. Moving the switching operation will relieve congestion at the intersection of crosstown.

“The overpass and the switching yard are very much tied together,” Wicker said.

Wicker said the quiet zone project is also about safety, as the goal of the project is to improve the safety standards of every crossing in the city.

“The quiet zone is very much about automobile safety,” he said. “It is not just a matter of keeping noise down. It is a matter of facilitating traffic.”

Tupelo will see positive economic, quality of live impact from quiet zones

When the founders established Tupelo, the railroad drove industry, and it still plays a major part in freight movement. As the city grew, it formed a symbiotic relationship with the railroad industries. That relationship culminated in today’s attitude toward the train.

Tommy Morgan, owner of Tommy Morgan Realtors said in the two decades he owned and operated Parkwood Grove Apartment, which he said was “right against the railroad,” he only had one tenant complain about the trains and that was because they had a baby.

“It is something you get used to,” he said. “I’ve lived really close to the train and I’ve lived pretty far away, and I’ve heard them everywhere I’ve lived.”

When asked if the quiet zones will raise property values overtime, Morgan said there would be no negative impact but it would be hard to ascertain its effect.

“I would think they would have to long term but more because it is a convenience,” He said.

Neal McCoy, a realtor for Jason Warren and Associates, said the market is still controlled by a lack of supply in the area, and while he cannot speculate on the potential impact of property values in a newly minted quiet zone, he said there will most certainly be an increase in people interested in homes near tracks that might not have been when the trains sounded warnings.

McCoy is a former executive director of the Tupelo Conventions and Visitors Bureau and former project manager for the city.

“In my limited time in the real estate world, I have not encountered (issues with trains), but my time with the city, there are needs (for a quiet zone) from a quality of life and economic development standpoint,” he said.

McCoy pointed to Fairpark’s residential development, saying its proximity to the railroad does not deter economic development.

“Fairpark area is as close as one can get to an active rail line and those people are building and all those lots are sold,” he said.