Houston,   Texas 

Ardurra (fka GUNDA) planned, designed and implemented the first Quiet Zone Improvements in the nation. Improvements included 16 street crossings for UPRR inside West Loop from San Felipe to Willowbend. The scope of services included extensive coordination with UPRR and FRA, field visits to identify deficiencies at the subject crossings, analyzing options for improvements considering community impacts and safety; design; construction documents; coordination of reviews of FRA and UPRR; and assisting the City with the permitting process as well as providing construction phase services.

Ardurra also developed a Priority Matrix for Quiet Zone improvements. Due to the success of the first Quiet Zone, several communities petitioned for Quiet Zone improvements in their community at active railroad crossings. Ardurra researched Quiet Zone, FRA and railroad requirements for improving safety and developed a tool that prioritizes railroad crossings based on several factors such as train traffic, vehicular traffic, cost of improvements, sight distances, community impacts, etc. The City of Houston has been using this tool to prioritize the requests for Quiet Zone improvements.