Downtown Cartersville could see the implementation of a CSX quiet zone as soon as October 1st, 2024. A quiet zone would prevent trains traveling through the city from honking their horns through intersections.

In last week’s Cartersville City Council meeting a citizen had raised concerns about the completion date of the quiet zone. At the time City Manager Dan Porta stated that he would provide an updated timeline to the public. WBHF received this timeline on Wednesday, which outlines the scope of work.

The first step towards the quiet zone is CSX’s engineering consultant STV receiving additional plan details for the sidewalk work by the city that will complement CSX’s Quiet Zone signal work. After STV approves the plans, the city will receive a Force Account Estimate of the cost of work by CSX, which the city will reimburse.

It is anticipated that the estimate and agreement will be received by the city in about 3 months. It will then require approximately 45 days for CSX to approve the agreement after it is approved by Mayor and City Council. Along with the agreement and a deposit for the expense of CSX’s work is received by CSX.

After CSX approves the agreement the city and CSX can begin ordering materials and begin work. The work is expected to require a minimum of 10 months for CSX to complete. It will then take approximately 1 month to complete final paperwork and inspections.

Therefore, based on the estimated timing from the City’s consultants and time needed for legal to review documents and agreements, the expected implementation of the quiet zone is around October 1, 2024. The estimated time for this completion would be around 16 months, however these are only estimates and the completion time frame could change.

In comparison to a nearby city, it took Acworth 3 years to complete their quiet zone which lasted from July 2013 to August 2016.