SANDPOINT - The pursuit of a railroad quiet zone may be good for local peace and quiet, but it could be tough on the city's pocketbook.

Even so, there's plenty of support for the proposal, which many residents and Realtors say is becoming an increasing problem for local quality of life. Several quiet zone proponents attended the Sandpoint City Council meeting Wednesday to deliver that message personally.

According to Sandpoint Public Works Director Kody Van Dyk, the Federal Railroad Administration provides a well-established avenue for towns to apply for quiet zones. However, it could require expensive improvements made on the city's dime.

"They make it very difficult, but it is possible," he said.

Despite the difficulty, several residents urged the city to purse the issue, saying train horns disrupted their sleep even with earplugs and closed windows. And with the dramatically increased train traffic in recent months, noise is becoming a bigger problem than ever, council members said.

"Now we hear 20, 30 or 40 train horns per day," Councilwoman Deb Fragoso said.

Council members also observed that Rathdrum had successfully established a quiet zone, so the project was far from impossible.

There could be an economic incentive to the quiet zone project as well. Raphael Barta of the Selkirk Association of Realtors said train noise was a major downside for people considering a move into the area.

For the railroads, public crossings are a very serious matter of public safety and require horn blasts once trains near them. In order to circumvent that policy, Sandpoint will have to ensure its six crossings - including railway crossings at Boyer Avenue, Gooby Road, East Mountain View Road, Woodland Drive, Division Avenue and Boyer Avenue - are equipped with specialized safety measures.

One of these measures, specialized circuitry to support constant train indication, may or may not already be equipped on city crossings. A BNSF representative is due to inspect crossings in December to confirm this, while a Union Pacific inspection has yet to be scheduled, Van Dyk said.

However, since crossings have to surpass a numerical safety rating to be considered for a quiet zone, the city may also have to install specialized safety equipment at its own expense. At $25,000 per crossing, the cheapest and most effective of these options is 100 feet of curbing in the middle of the street to keep cars from attempting to drive around gates. However, this curbing would block left-hand turns to residences, businesses and other streets from key thoroughfares like Division and Boyer.

Another option is a four-quadrant gate system, much more expensive at $250,000 per crossing. Van Dyk said the price is somewhat inflated by railroads, which handle quad-gate installation. Furthermore, the railroads have an active interest in minimizing the number of quiet zones out there, he added.

"They take safety very seriously," he said. "They see (this) as something that compromises safety, and they sincerely believe it."