AN OPEN LETTER FROM
A
WISCONSIN FARMER WHO REGRETS
SIGNING A WIND CONTRACT
Sometime in late 2001 or early 2002, a wind
developer working for Florida Power and Light showed up near
the Wisconsin Town of Cambria looking to get in touch with someone
at the Steinich family farm.
He wanted to talk to the landowner about leasing
a bit of land for the installation of a met tower. He needed
to measure the winds in the area for a possible windfarm and
Walter Steinich's land looked like a good place to do it.
The wind developer seemed like a good guy to
Mr. Steinich who was in his early 70's at the time. The money
seemed good. A met tower didn't seem like a big deal. It was
just a tall pole with some guy wires, and it was temporary. Mr.
Steinich signed the contract. read
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About Railway Quiet Zones
Beautiful footage--who doesn't love to watch a train,
when you're able to control the sound.
*Extra safety measures are put into place, preventing
'crashing' of gates. Trains are still equipped with horns
that can be blown should the engineer see a problem ahead. The
extra safety measures protect deaf, hard-of-hearing drivers
and drivers unable to hear due to loud vehicle, radio or stereo
noise.
There is still a crossing in town NOT equipped with gates that
is often used as an 'escape' route--Park Street.
THAT's NOT safe! The bottom line is NOT safety--it's $$$$$$$$.
Are we going to allow Wapak to be
the last kid on the block
to 'get it'? Wapak needs to provide for the safety and welfare,
not to mention the quality of life, for it's citizens.
Below is a field evaluation of
a Wayside Horn at a
Highway-Railroad Grade Crossing, by U.S. Department of Transportation
Research and Special Programs Administration,
John A. Volpe,
National Transportation Systems Center, June 1998
AHS™ Study Conclusions (Automated
Horn Systen)
"Wayside horns are a viable alternative to locomotive horns
for audible warning at grade crossings.
Wayside horns have the advantage of being closer to the motorist.
In addition, they have a more focused radiation pattern and produce
less community noise exposure."
Wayside Horn Sound Radiation and Motorist Audibility Evaluation,
Prepared for: Association of American Railroads, Prepared by:
Mike Fann & Associates, May 2000
"For nearby residents, the automated
horn system greatly reduces the negative impacts
resulting from the loud train horns; the automated horns are well
accepted by both motorists and locomotive engineers;
and the automated system appears to provide an equivalent level
of safety at the crossings."
Evaluation of an Automated Horn Warning System at Three Highway-Railroad
Grade Crossings
in Ames, Iowa, by Steve Gent, P.E. (Iowa DOT), Scott Logan, P.E.(City
of Ames Iowa), David Evans (Iowa State University), 1998
"The wayside horn provided an
equal or significantly louder audible warning
at the point at which motorists most need the warning."
Automated Wayside Train Horn Warning System Evaluation,
Prepared for: The City of Richardson, Texas, Prepared by: PB Farradyne
Inc., May 2001
"The AHS appears to be, after
almost 5 years of operation, an effective alternative to the locomotive
horn at the
Tenth Street crossing in Gering, Nebraska, with a violation rate
no greater than that observed during pretest monitoring."
A Safety Evaluation of the RCL Automated Horn System, by Stephen
S. Roop, Ph.D. Texas Transportation Institute, May 2000
"The safety evaluation suggests
that the wayside horn will not result in behavior
that puts the driver at increased risk compared to the use of
the train horn.
The frequency of violations was lower for the wayside horn than
the train horn,
while the time to collision and violation time was not statistically
or practically different for either warning system."
This is a picture
of a crossing in Wapak. Can anyone identify it?
