LAYTON -- City officials met with Utah Transit Authority officials to address a traffic congestion concern compounded by the sensors on the FrontRunner rail line.
Train sensors on FrontRunner crossing arms cause traffic backups on Gentile Street and 900 South, Mayor Steve Curtis said.
Curtis said the FrontRunner sensors bring down the crossing arms on the two city streets when trains stop at the station and passengers board.
When the northbound train stops, the gates drop at Gentile Street and, as the train starts out, the arms come up for only a moment before dropping again. There's no time for vehicles to pass.
The same thing happens at 900 South when the train is headed southbound.
"It's enough to back traffic up," Curtis said.
Paul O'Brien, UTA rail service manager, said a change to FrontRunner's schedule has made it so only one train arrives at the station at a time, instead of two. This allows to come in faster.
"From the beginning of FrontRunner up until Aug. 24, we had two trains meet at the station at the same time," he said. "In August, we changed our schedule to speed things up, and now only one train comes into the station at a time."
The rail crossings' speed sensors pick up the train's oncoming speed and lower the crossing arms before it stops at the station.
Layton city hopes the traffic congestion problems caused by the guards will soon be resolved, and thus far, UTA has taken the city's complaint very seriously.
UTA officials "feel they have got the problem figured out," Curtis said. "It is a problem we needed immediately addressed, and they have jumped on it."
O'Brien said UTA has been working on solutions for about two weeks.
"We've been testing concepts for the last few weeks," he said. "It's not easy because there is a lot of coordinating involved."
UTA spokesman Gerry Carpenter said safety is the first priority when devising a solution for the congestion problem.
"Safety is one of our top priorities," he said. "Everything we do is done very meticulously with safety in mind."
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