What we're asking from City Hall
- Fast repairs, residential first. Prioritize fast repairs on small, residential corridors, and file each corridor’s FRA paperwork as soon as its work is done.
- A real plan. A crossing-by-crossing schedule with dates, and an approved budget, ASAP.
- Accountability. One named owner, weekly public progress reports, and a public record of how the FRA notices were handled.
Where the repairs stand
What City Hall staff told us on October 6, 2026.
What each crossing needs
- Remove the old “X” pavement markings.
- Paint a new stop bar, or install one.
- Replace the yellow advance warning signs. They are 30 inches. The FRA requires 36 inches.
- Keep every stop sign and safety feature that was in place when the quiet zone was approved in 2005. Some of it was certified then and must still be there.
Progress to quiet nights
Corridor by corridor: confirmed. Each corridor goes quiet when its work and paperwork are done. No waiting for all 187 crossings.
Paperwork includes new traffic counts, led by the traffic commissioner. The City is starting it now instead of waiting for all the work to finish. A progress map is coming to the City’s website.
Official updates: City quiet zone page
Join the 2 A.M. Club
Three things. Five minutes total. That's more than City Hall managed in 18 years.
Sign the petition
Add your name to the demand for relief, a plan, and accountability. We're keeping the count private until it's big enough to matter.
Read the petition
We, residents of St. Louis City, demand that City Hall: (1) ask the FRA in writing for a temporary extension and reinstatement of the quiet zone while repairs finish; (2) publish a crossing-by-crossing schedule with dates and an approved budget ASAP; and (3) name one accountable owner, publish weekly progress reports, and release a public record of how 18 years of FRA notices were handled.
Let's wake City Hall up.
They wake you at 2 a.m. It's time to return the favor. One click opens a ready-to-send email to your alderman and the Mayor, with everyone at City Hall who's supposed to own this problem CC'd. Name optional.
CC: everyone at City Hall who owns this
Send it three ways. Pick whichever you use.
Then share this page. Every neighbor who sends one makes yours count more.
Rep. Wesley Bell (MO-1) only takes email through his contact form. Paste the same text there. He can push the FRA.
They had 18 years. Make a difference in 30 seconds.
Here's a call script. Make the call, ask that it gets logged. The more calls, the higher we can get this up the list.
Citizens' Service Bureau creates a tracked ticket. Give the crossing street name. Ask for the ticket number.
Who can fix it
Official office phone numbers and emails, all from stlouis-mo.gov. Tap a number to call. Tap an email to write to them. Be firm. Be civil. Civil emails get quoted by reporters. Rude ones get deleted.
Find your alderman
14 wards. Some neighborhoods are split between two wards. If yours is listed twice, check the city's address lookup.
| Ward | Alderperson | Neighborhoods | Contact |
|---|
18 years, in five bullets
- 2005St. Louis makes the whole city a federal quiet zone. Trains stop honking at 187 street-level crossings.
- 2008The FRA tells City Hall some crossings don't meet federal standards. This is the last time the city files the required paperwork.
- 2008 – 2024Notices keep arriving. City records do not show who received them. Nothing gets fixed.
- Summer 2024 – Feb 2025The FRA emails the Street Department about once a month: fix the signs and striping or lose the quiet zone. The work is not done. Staff leave in 2025, and later FRA notices go to an inbox no one checks. The current administration says it learned of the problem from the revocation letter.
- Sept 11, 2026The FRA revokes the quiet zone and calls the city "217 months overdue." Horns start that night. The fix: about 1,000 signs, new striping, some gates. Estimated $650K to $1M. Not in the budget at the time. First estimate: about a month.
- Sept 26, 2026The Mayor's office sets new targets: new signs at residential crossings by the end of November, every crossing finished by mid-December. Weekly updates are promised on the Streets Department website. The city has asked the FRA to lift the horns corridor by corridor. The FRA has not yet confirmed.
- Sept 29, 2026The city says it found the money for the repairs in the Street Department budget.
Sources: STLPR · St. Louis Magazine · First Alert 4 · Hoodline · FOX 2 · 49 CFR 222.51
“18 Years” by 2 A.M. Club
A parody track about 18 years of warnings, your tax dollars, and a freight train at 2 a.m. Original lyrics. Share it with your alderman.
Read the lyrics
[Intro] This one's for The Hill. Dogtown. Carondelet. Tower Grove. Everybody who got a wake-up call at 2 a.m. from a freight train. City Hall, this is your alarm clock. [Hook] Eighteen years, eighteen years You had eighteen years, eighteen years Every letter in the inbox, every warning in the drawer Now the horn's on my pillow and I can't take no more Eighteen years (yeah), eighteen years Took my tax, took my sleep, gave me eighteen years [Verse 1] Two a.m., I'm awake, and it ain't my alarm It's a hundred-decibel diesel doing me harm Freight train hollerin' at the crossing on Manchester House shakin' like a bass drop, I'm a wreck, sir Pull up the news, tryna see what's what Feds wrote City Hall in '08, said "fix the crossings up" Signs too small, paint too faded, gates too slow Eighteen years of "we'll get to it," now the whistle blow Two-seventeen months, that's the number on the sheet Overdue like a library book nobody came to read Sent it to the streets guy, CC'd two more Then the inbox owner quit and walked out the door "We do not have a clear understanding," that's the quote I got a clear understanding: nobody read the note [Hook] [Verse 2] Property tax, earnings tax, one percent off the check Sales tax on the Advil for my train-horn neck Million-dollar fix and it "ain't in the budget" Eighteen years of budgets and not one of 'em touched it Now it's "thirty days," now it's "couple of months" Now it's "residential first," now it's "we'll announce" Give me a date, give me a crossing, give me a name Not a shrug and a "prior administration" blame Y'all can find the money for a stadium in a week But a thousand road signs got the whole city up, can't sleep Kent said it's "a novelty" at noon, not at two Kent, we agree. So what's the plan? Where's the crew? [Hook] [Bridge] I'm not asking for a miracle, I'm asking for a sign Literally, a sign. Reflective. Regulation size. On time. Lay the paint down, file the paperwork, call the FRA And I'll sleep like a baby when you quiet that train [Outro] Eighteen years... eighteen years... We'll remember at the ballot, when your name appears. Eighteen years.