Unnecessary Train Noise
I am a realtor and a resident in the Cottage Grove area of the city. That would be the Washington Avenue Corridor. There has been a large amount of new construction in this area. The Houston City is collection a lot a tax revenue from these homes and unfortunately we (the residents of this area) are being bombarded by train horn noise at all hours of the day and night. The city has somehow been able to get a quite zone for West University, Bellaire, and the Galleria area I.E. (no horn blowing), But we the residents of the Washington Avenue corridor are somehow not it the loop for this same consideration. I have written to the city council starting Jan 25, 07 complaining about the unneccessary noise, inviting members of the City Council and the Mayor to come to home and experience first hand the noise levels. In April there was an article written in the Houston Chronicle by (mat.stiles@chron.com) requesting that a 16 foot wall be built along I 10 to reduce the traffic noise so that the users of Memorial Park would not be bothered by the noise. (cost as much as $ 480,000) Excuse me but the users of Memorial Park are not there all day and all night. The homeowners and high tax payers are along this route all the time. I wrote Mr. Stiles with no reply but again he is representing a special interest group. I wrote another letter to the Mayor and City council Feb, 22,07 about the unneccessary noise from the trains, again no reply. I wrote again Aug 12, 07 spelling out the problem for the homeowners along this track. I recieved a letter signed by Bill White indicating that the complaint was be sent to Terence Fontaine, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. We are still waiting for a response from this person. Since the opening of the new terminal on the ship channel we are overrun by trains and the noise that follows day and night and Sunday nights are usually the worst. But the City is making money from the new terminal on the ship channel and from the homeowner tax payers and we are putting up with the nose with apparantly no help from the city. Today the Houston Chronicle (Dec. 28, 2007) has an article by Eric Hanson (eric.hanson@chron.com) about the city of Sugar Land attacking this same problem, I can only hope that the city council members and the mayor of Houston will read it and maybe do something for us along the train route of the Washington Ave. Corridor. If other owners in this area would like to have some input please write to the following.
Terrence Fontaine
Deputy Chief of Staff for Operation
Office of the Mayor
P.O. Box 1562
Houston, Texas 77251
and send a copy to Shiela Jackson Lee, since she is on the Railroad commission perhaps something will be done in our collective lifetimes
Gary Bergner
Century 21 Brooks Ballard
4150 Westheimer Rd. Ste 120
Houston, Texas 77027
(4 votes, average: 4.25 out of 5)
Loading ...
I just recently moved to the area. About a block away from the RR crossing at Heights Blvd. I knew the train track was there, but had no idea the trains were allowed to generate those loud train horn noises at all hours of the night. Surely in that densely populated of an area, they’d have to tone it down at night while people are trying to sleep, right? Wrong!!!!! It seems absolutely ridiculous to me that, with all the people living around there, this train can come through at 3:00 a.m., 4:30 a.m., 5:10 a.m., etc. and blast these 150+ db horns. Isn’t that a violation of the city noise ordinance in and of itself?
http://www.nonoise.org/lawlib/cities/houston.htm
I sleep with earplugs (30db reduction) and I STILL get woken up 3 to 4 times per night by the horns. I haven’t had a decent nights sleep since I moved in. AND I often oversleep my alarm clock now since it isn’t near as load as the train horns (really!!).
I should mention that I’m really getting sick of hearing people say or reading that “oh, you’ll get used to it”. If this was a faint horn noise off in the distance, then yes, I would get used to it. I did get used to living north of IAH when I was younger and hearing all the planes, but this is a different story. As I mentioned, it is extremely loud. Imagine your radio or iPod alarm clock cranked all the way up and going off 3 or 4 times a night. Would you “get used to” that? I didn’t think so.
If you are planning on moving to this area, reconsider until this nonsense is taken care of. This, of course, probably won’t happen until after 2010 or so (if ever).
I am in negotiations with a builder to buy a house in the area referred to above. I visited one new house and was told by the sales person not to worry about the train tracks as they are no longer used.
Is there any future plans in place by the council to do something about this noise?
Are there any suggestions that I could make to the builder to hlock out this noise?
Any help/suggestions would be appreciated.
I sent in a blog in Dec. concerning the noise from the train and attemps by me and the city to establish a quiet zone. A plan was adopted by the city but unfortunately, we were put on a level three (the lowest) I would urge all those living along the Washington Ave. Corridor to start sending in their concerns about this unnecessary noise to the city and others who can do something about it. I am listing the e-mail address for those in City Hall who have been made aware of this problem by the meetings that I had with them. Please send your complanints to the following:
jesse.bounds@cityofhouston
david.worley@cityofhouston.net
rhonda.sauter@cityofhouston.net
terence.fontaine@cityofhouston.net
Joeadams@up.com
drhill@up.com
billwhite@cityofhouston.net
People the only way that this can get done is for all to send in their complaints to the city.
You may also write the following:
Congressman Sheila Jackson Lee
2435 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515 or send an e-mail to the following:
yohannes.tsehai@mail.house.gov
To: Those living in the Washington Ave. Corridor and don’t like the unecessary train noise (horns) Please see the above blog to those than can do something about it. YOU WILL HAVE TO SEND YOUR COMPLAINTS IN ON A REGULAR BASIS TO GET ANYTHING DONE.
Gary Bergner, ABR, GRI, QSC
Broker/Associate
Century21 Brooks Ballard
Houston, Texas 77002
Gary,
Thanks for putting this information out there. I very recently moved to the Area (north of Washington and south of I10) and I would have never thought the train noise would be SO horrible. I can’t sleep at night! I appreciate your efforts to bring this situation to the attention of the appropriate officials within the city of Houston.
Are you aware if there was an application submitted for the Quiet Zones Program for our area? (http://www.publicworks.houstontx.gov/traffic/programs.htm). I unfortunately moved in after the submission deadline. I will, however, be sending official communications to all of the contacts that you have listed above, and I would encourage ALL of our neighbors to also do so.
Please let me know if there is anything that I can do to help with your efforts. Has there ever been an effort to combine the efforts of the Rice Military, Camp Logan, and Washington Corridor Neighborhoods to create a larger campaign?
OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! Could it be any louder!!! We just moved into the area and I have not had a decent night sleep since. I never thought a train horn could be sooooooo loud!!! Thanks for the info and we sure will start the letters and emails.
It is ridiculous how loud these horns are blown. Some nights (when traffic is low or absent) the horns are blown unnecisarily LONG and LOUD. It feels like they are doing it on purpose just for kicks. One guy tooted the horn consecutively from TC Jester all the way down (going East) for about a mile. Every once in a while you get a guy that is considerate and will queitly blow the horn but this is few and far between…but atleast it tells me that they are capable of not blowing horns full force. I will be writing as many letters and emails as I can…Maybe I’ll write them when I am up at 3:00, 4:00, and 5:00 in the morning waiting on the trains to pass.
I’ve have been dreaming (when actually able to sleep) about doing something about the train noise along the Washington Ave corridor. I moved in over the summer and it has been bothering me incredibly every since the first night. I read about the solution that Sugar Land came up with at http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou080325_tnt_trainhorns.27eb345e.html . Sounds like they are paving the way for the rest of us. I would hope Houston would be willing to do the same for us. That said, I think I would be willing to start a fundraising campaign just to raise funds to install these noise reducing devices along the Washington Ave corridor. Seems to me that everyone should be willing to chip in since it would probably increase the value of our houses. Contractors might even be willing since it effects how much they can sell a new house for. Anyhow, I plan on writing to all the city officials listed in a previous blog here for sure.
Anyone know the status of the move to make Washington Ave a “quiet zone”? I am moving into some apartments directly in behind the tracks on the Washington Ave side and am wondering if this is a mistake. Do you really get used to the horn that close?
Thanks for any info/opinions.
I could not believe this was possible when I spent the first night in my new house. Bought this place and was really excited…but it didn’t last long when at midnight I heard this REALLY LOUD HORN not just once, but two and t
I really hope the City of Houston stops these horrifying LOUD HORNS soon, at least overnight…Do train drivers know there are people trying to sleep when they blow these extremely loud and scary horns at 11 pm, 1 am, 3 am, 5 am? It’s so sad…
I moved to this area (south of I-10 on Allen Street and Cohn) two months ago and I’m already thinking about renting the property out…these trains run non-stop day and night 24/7 and the house shakes every time they go by..but that doesn’t bother me nearly as much as being woken up every night by these scary loud horns. It’s like a nightmare!! I thought I could get used to it, but after two months that’s not going to happen…I can hear the train coming when it’s miles away and by the time it goes by the house I’m ready to cover my ears…I guess I need to buy some heavy duty ear plugs.
I’ll definitely write as many letters as needed to help get something done…imagine having babies trying to sleep at night!! Not a good picture…LET’S GET THIS CAMPAIGN MOVING!!!
I’m writing this at 440am as I was just awoken by a train blasting its horn in at least 10 second intervals all the way through TC Jester. I recently moved to Texas and thought that this was a pretty nice area - and I unfortunately assumed that the trains would be following a noise ordinance and not be cranking out toots after 12am unless necessary.
It’s ridiculous, and I can’t wait to move.
I’m young and have lived in “downtown/uptown” areas my entire life, and am completely accustomed to the sound of construction, police sirens, ambulances, etc running 24/7 throughout the city - hell I went to VCU, and my last condo was ACROSS THE STREET from TIA.
Heaven forbid it be a cool night out and you sleep with the windows open, because some prick conductor will decide to get his giggles off by laying on the horn like he did a few moments ago.
I’m really curious about the people who live in houses BESIDE the train track. They must have some fantastic tranquilizers to get to sleep.