Work beginning on Quiet Zones at riverfront railroad crossings

(May 11, 2026) The City of Davenport and crews from Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) will begin improvements to the railroad crossings from Mound Street to Marquette Street to create federally-approved Quiet Zones. These updates will lead to some road and trail closures while work takes place on the crossings.

What's a Quiet Zone?
By federal law, train engineers must sound the train horn at every public crossing. A Quiet Zone allows communities to reduce routine horn use if extra safety measures, like upgraded signals, gates, and medians, are put in place.

It's important to note that just because a train engineer isn't required to sound the horn, the engineer has the authority to use his discretion to sound the horn in unsafe conditions. Quiet Zones do not eliminate all train horns.

How does a crossing become an approved Quiet Zone?
Before a Quiet Zone can be approved, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) requires proof that it will be just as safe-or safer-than crossings where train horns are regularly sounded. The City hired a third-party engineering firm to study conditions throughout the corridor, and the results showed that with the planned improvements, the crossings will be well below the federal risk threshold. In fact, the added safety measures required for a Quiet Zone will make the crossings safer overall.
The project's limits will include nine public vehicular crossings, four private vehicular crossings, and two pedestrian crossings along the riverfront.

Why did Davenport initiate this project?
The discussion started in 2021 during the proposed merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern railways. One of the main impacts of the merger is a dramatic increase in train traffic through the Quad Cities - from 5 trains a day to as many as 24. In August 2022, the Davenport City Council approved the merger and accepted a $10 million settlement from the railroad to cover the costs of infrastructure improvements necessary to accommodate the increased train traffic. The merger became official in 2023.

How is this project funded?
The project is estimated at $4.3 million, funded through a federal railroad grant (awarded in 2023), a state Destination Iowa grant (the funding package that includes Main Street Landing), and railroad community investment funds.