A reminder to Jefferson residents that the railroad crossing at Pinet Street will be permanently closed starting today.

City Administrator Mike Palmer says in April, the City Council made an agreement with Union Pacific Railroad to close the crossing with Pinet Street to begin the process of establishing a quiet zone where the trains don’t activate their horns as they come through the City.  There are five at-grade crossings in Jefferson.  The reason why Pinet Street was the first to be closed is because it had the lowest traffic usage from a study that was conducted earlier.

As part of that process, City crews will be putting up permanent barricades and UP crews will be taking out the crossing itself and removing all signals and lights associated with the crossing.

Palmer points out that UP will pay $16,500 for every permanently railroad crossing closure and the Iowa Department of Transportation will also pay $7,500.

The other crossings that will be considered for closure are Maple, Wilson, Grimmel and Cedar streets.