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Grand Avenue Widening Project Environmental Impact Report Section 3.0 TABLE 3.6-4 DISTANCES TO EXISTING NOISE CONTOURS Source: BridgeNet Consulting Services (July 2001). Currently, there are 35 daily Metrolink trains operating on this track. There are also currently 25 Amtrak trains which use the line each day. This line is also used for through and local freight operations which are scheduled around the current passenger and commuter trains. This line normally accommodates a couple through freight trains per day, and a local freight at least twice a day. The local freights are generally less than ten cars in length while the through freights are often 6,000 feet in length. These through freight trains can be operated anytime of the day or night depending on customer demand. Analysis was conducted recently regarding the possible expansion of the existing rail line through Santa Ana. The SCRRA prepared a Recirculated Draft E1R for the proposed Santa Ana Second Main Track Project (Myra L. Frank and Associates and Frederic R. Harris, Inc., 2002). That EIR indicated that if a second main line is constructed through the Cities of Santa Ana and Orange, the total number of trains using this line could increase to 105 trains per day. This operational data was used in conjunction with the Wyle Model to project existing train noise in the Grand Avenue project area. These results are shown in Table 3.6-5 and are expressed as distances from the railroad centerline to the 60, 65 and 70 dB contours. These projections are unmitigated railroad noise effects which do not include consideration of topography or barriers such as buildings or walls which would reduce these noise levels. The projected unmitigated noise level at homes on the west side of Grand Avenue associated with operations on the SCRRA track is 60 dB CNEL. Most of the east side of the railroad right of way, which is between the railroad track and Grand Avenue, is developed in commercial and industrial uses. These buildings provide a mitigating effect, reducing noise from railroad operations on land uses east of the tracks and these developed uses by at least 10 dB. Therefore, at the distance the project segment of Grand Avenue is from the railroad track and with consideration of the noise reduction effects based on distance and intervening structures, the projected mitigated noise levels from railroad operations are expected to be less than 50 dB CNEL and were determined to not significantly impact noise sensitive land uses in the Grand Avenue project area. Therefore, the existing and future railroad operations on this track were assumed not to contribute significantly to the noise environment in the Grand Avenue area. F: IPROJ-ENMGrand eirlNew Text - GrandlSection 3 Split0ection 3.6.doc Page 3.6-15 Distance to CNEL Contours ft. Roadway ADT 70 dB 65 dB 60 dB 2001 Grand Avenue F40 Seventeenth Street to Santa Ana 25,900 46 98 212 Boulevard 32,000 43 113 244 Santa Ana Boulevard to Fourth Street 30,300 51 109 235 Fourth Street to First Street I-5 Grand Avenue 1 236,000 65 461 993 2,138 Source: BridgeNet Consulting Services (July 2001). Currently, there are 35 daily Metrolink trains operating on this track. There are also currently 25 Amtrak trains which use the line each day. This line is also used for through and local freight operations which are scheduled around the current passenger and commuter trains. This line normally accommodates a couple through freight trains per day, and a local freight at least twice a day. The local freights are generally less than ten cars in length while the through freights are often 6,000 feet in length. These through freight trains can be operated anytime of the day or night depending on customer demand. Analysis was conducted recently regarding the possible expansion of the existing rail line through Santa Ana. The SCRRA prepared a Recirculated Draft E1R for the proposed Santa Ana Second Main Track Project (Myra L. Frank and Associates and Frederic R. Harris, Inc., 2002). That EIR indicated that if a second main line is constructed through the Cities of Santa Ana and Orange, the total number of trains using this line could increase to 105 trains per day. This operational data was used in conjunction with the Wyle Model to project existing train noise in the Grand Avenue project area. These results are shown in Table 3.6-5 and are expressed as distances from the railroad centerline to the 60, 65 and 70 dB contours. These projections are unmitigated railroad noise effects which do not include consideration of topography or barriers such as buildings or walls which would reduce these noise levels. The projected unmitigated noise level at homes on the west side of Grand Avenue associated with operations on the SCRRA track is 60 dB CNEL. Most of the east side of the railroad right of way, which is between the railroad track and Grand Avenue, is developed in commercial and industrial uses. These buildings provide a mitigating effect, reducing noise from railroad operations on land uses east of the tracks and these developed uses by at least 10 dB. Therefore, at the distance the project segment of Grand Avenue is from the railroad track and with consideration of the noise reduction effects based on distance and intervening structures, the projected mitigated noise levels from railroad operations are expected to be less than 50 dB CNEL and were determined to not significantly impact noise sensitive land uses in the Grand Avenue project area. Therefore, the existing and future railroad operations on this track were assumed not to contribute significantly to the noise environment in the Grand Avenue area. F: IPROJ-ENMGrand eirlNew Text - GrandlSection 3 Split0ection 3.6.doc Page 3.6-15