San Mateo hopes to hush train noise in residential areas
SAN MATEO - Noise pollution is a problem in urban areas across the Bay, but in San Mateo, one rail crossing has caused enough headaches that the city is finding a permanent solution.
Sharon Sanchez has lived in the North Central neighborhood of San Mateo for 40 years.
"I like the neighborhood because it's very friendly. We have neighbors who've been here for a long time. It's very family oriented," she said.
Over the course of those 40 years, she's gotten quite used to the sound of train horns and trains whooshing by.
"There are different times of the day where it's definitely more intrusive," she said.
Sanchez lives about a block from the Villa Terrace train crossing.
"They have to honk it every time they start coming through the intersection, because it's an open intersection. There are three very close - the San Mateo Station, this one, and then the one in Burlingame - so they honk it a little bit along the way," she said.
That could soon change. The San Mateo City Council is considering removing the crossing at Villa Terrace and establishing a quiet zone, in an effort to reduce train horn noise in the neighborhood.
"I would say that if the majority of the people in this area would like it, I think it would be nice if they'd consider it," Sanchez said.
Mayor Amourence Lee says as the city considers closing this crossing, they'd also add more safety mechanisms - such as medians - at the E. Bellevue crossing.
"Train horn noise is a quality of life issue," she said. "This is a real opportunity for us to engineer actual solutions that could help reduce train horn noise and bring safety improvements to the corridor as well."
But before they move forward with this, she says the city plans to gather community input.
"There's a need at this moment, at this juncture, to really turn to the community and say these are some of the trade-off's that you'll have to weigh," Lee said.
There are a variety of opinions about the idea throughout the neighborhood. One resident, who preferred not to go on camera, said some folks may be concerned that it'll take longer for kids who live on the west side of the tracks to get to schools on the east side of the tracks.
Sanchez says she'd welcome the opportunity to chime in, if this is truly a legitimate possibility.
"Over the last 20 years, we've heard rumors and buzzing about it," she said. "Then it kind of goes away, you hear it again, and it goes away."
But to her, the biggest benefit of closing the crossing isn't the possible reduction of train horn noise. It's the possible reduction of traffic, overall.
"We get a lot of extra traffic here from El Camino and California because it's kind of an easy way to get between Peninsula Avenue and here," she said. "A lot of bigger trucks that are too big for the neighborhood end up getting in here and not being able to get out, so I think that would probably stop that."
Two nuisances that she'd be happy to have less of, in a neighborhood she's glad to call home.
"Most people, I think, would be okay with it," she said.
The city hopes to establish the quiet zone by mid-to-end of 2025.
