City commissioners were warned Tuesday night that a train whistle could very easily be the difference between life and death for pedestrians in the North Lawrence area.

Commissioners at their weekly meeting requested more information before finalizing a proposal that would allow trains to go through the area from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. without blowing their whistles at every crossing.

“Whether it is five years from now or 20 years from now, a pedestrian will die because that area is a quiet zone. Commissioners need to know that,” Larry Lawrence, an area railroad executive and city resident, said at the meeting.

Lawrence – who doesn’t work for Union Pacific Railroad, which uses the North Lawrence tracks, and wasn’t speaking on behalf of his railroad – said a quiet zone would be particularly dangerous because there are a number of bars in the area that may create pedestrian traffic.

But Ted Boyle, president of the North Lawrence Improvement Assn., said the area would continue to be safe because several new improvements would be made at the two crossings on North Third and North Seventh Streets. The city estimates that $50,000 in improvements will be needed, which will include new medians and new crossing arms that will make it difficult for drivers to go around the barriers. The crossings also will include bells to alert people in the area.

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Plus Boyle said engineers would still have the ability to manually trigger the whistles, but the sensors that automatically trigger the whistles would be removed.

“It really doesn’t make a difference if the whistle automatically goes off or if he pulls it when he sees someone on the tracks,” Boyle said. “If he’s going 45 miles per hour, he won’t be able to stop it either way.”

Commissioners requested more information about what improvements would be required by the Federal Railway Administration. They also wanted to know what would happen to the safety arms in the event of a power failure.

The issue should be back for commission consideration this spring.

In other news, commissioners:

¢ unanimously approved two new mid-block pedestrian crossings on New Hampshire Street. One will be between Sixth and Seventh Streets and the other will be between Eighth and Ninth streets. Both will be similar to the crossing near the Lawrence Arts Center in the 900 block of New Hampshire. The crossing in the 600 block was requested by The World Company, which owns the Journal-World and has offices along that stretch of the road. The crossing in the 800 block will help serve the relocated Lawrence Farmers Market.

¢ unanimously approved changes to the city’s disorderly house ordinance that are designed to streamline the law’s enforcement process.

¢ unanimously approved an agreement that will allow Microtech Computers to end its property tax abatement agreement with the city.