[1]
Editor's note—In order to facilitate future amendments/additions to the Code, these provisions have been renumbered from §§ 32-11—32-13 to §§ 32-31—32-33.
For purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:
Director
means the director of the department of public works and transportation, or his/her duly authorized representative.
Highway-rail or grade crossing
means any street or highway crossing over a line of railroad at grade.
Locomotive horn
means a train-borne audio warning device including a horn, bell, whistle or siren meeting standards specified by the United States Secretary of Transportation.
Supplemental safety measure (SSM)
means a safety system or procedure at a highway rail or grade crossing that is determined by the Federal Railroad Administration and/or the United States Secretary of Transportation to be an effective substitute for the locomotive horn in prevention of highway-rail casualties that fully compensates for the absence of the warning provided by the locomotive horn. A traffic control arrangement that prevents careless movement over the crossing (e.g., as where adequate median barriers prevent movement around crossing gates extending over the full width of the lanes in the particular direction of travel), and that conforms to the standards prescribed by the United States Secretary of Transportation under the Swift Rail Development Act of 1994, Public Law 103-440, as amended, shall be deemed to constitute supplemental safety measures. The following do not, individually or in combination, constitute supplemental safety measures within the meaning of this definition: standard traffic control devices or arrangements such as reflectorized crossbucks, stop signs, flashing lights with gates that do not completely block travel with the line of railroad or traffic signals.
(Ordinance 8442, § 1, adopted 2/3/2005)
(a) 
Unless preempted by federal or state law the city council may designate selected highway grade crossings within the city at which the engineer or person in charge of a railroad locomotive shall not sound the railroad locomotive horn within one thousand three hundred twenty (1,320) feet of the grade crossing at which approved supplementary safety measures are installed.
(b) 
Any person or property owner requesting the approval and installation of supplemental safety measures at a railway grade or crossing shall submit plans and specifications to the director for supplemental safety measures. Such person or property owner shall obtain approval of and contract with the railroad and/or the operating companies which own and/or control the railway grade crossing for the construction and maintenance of such supplemental safety measures and shall provide copies of such executed contracts and agreements to the director. The person or property owner requesting the approval and installation of the supplemental safety measure shall pay or cause to be paid all cost of construction, installation and maintenance of the supplemental safety measure, unless otherwise agreed by the city.
(c) 
The director shall review all plans and contracts submitted in connection with the implementation of a supplemental safety measure and provide recommendations to the city council. If the city council finds the proposed supplemental safety measure to be an effective substitute for the railroad locomotive horn and that all approvals, construction and maintenance agreements have been executed then the city council shall authorize an agreement be made and designate such railway grade crossing at which a ban of the sounding of a railroad locomotive horn be in effect in accordance with this article.
(Ordinance 8442, § 1, adopted 2/3/2005)
(a) 
It shall be unlawful for the engineer or person operating in charge of a railroad locomotive to sound the horn or cause the same to be done within one thousand three hundred twenty (1,320) feet of the following designated at grade crossings in the city:
(1) 
Wildwood Drive at Trinity Rail Express.
(2) 
Irving Heights Drive at Trinity Rail Express.
(3) 
Nursery Road at Trinity Rail Express.
(4) 
Britain Road at Trinity Rail Express.
(b) 
It shall be an affirmative defense to prosecution under this section when in the sole judgment of the engineer, there is imminent danger of an accident; to announce the approach of the train to roadway workers; or when active warning devices have malfunctioned.
(Ordinance 8442, § 1, adopted 2/3/2005)