Why can you still hear the horns in Tequesta when trains have been running through Jupiter without them for more than a year?
Jupiter's quiet zone took effect on Aug. 8, 2025, and it covers all six of its crossings on the Florida East Coast Railway tracks. Palm Beach Gardens started two weeks before that, also at six crossings, according to the Palm Beach Post. North of those twelve crossings, a train reaches the Village's one crossing at Tequesta Drive and Old Dixie Highway. There, engineers still sound the horn.
That crossing is now the gap between a quiet corridor to the south and a county to the north that has said no once and is only now reconsidering. The Village's own update says the gap is close to closing. It also says the quiet will have limits, because the horns at County Line Road are not part of Tequesta's project.
The Fix the FRA Asked For
The latest word comes from the Village of Tequesta's project dashboard, which reports status as of Sept. 30, 2026. According to that report, the Federal Railroad Administration found that several pavement markings at the Tequesta Drive crossing have to be removed and moved to meet quiet zone requirements. The Village's engineer has reviewed the findings. The corrections include milling, paving and restriping several lanes at the crossing.
The Village's road contractor has the work scheduled for October and November. The dashboard is direct about what comes in what order: the corrections "must be completed before the Quiet Zone can be established."
If you drive Tequesta Drive toward Old Dixie in the coming weeks, lane work at the tracks is part of the quiet zone effort. It is not routine resurfacing. The Village has not published a date when routine horns will stop. The October–November window covers the road work only. Once that is done, the quiet zone can be established.
How Tequesta Got Here
The Village's record shows a deliberate pace that started with debate over whether to apply at all.
- 2021. Mayor Molly Young said in December 2023 that extra gates and safety signs had already gone in at the crossing under a 2021 strategic plan, as CBS12 reported.
- Dec. 4, 2023. By then Brightline's Orlando service had added trains, and Village officials put the count at no fewer than 30 crossings a day. Residents had complained about the added noise. The council still deferred filing an application so that seasonal residents could get used to the faster trains. In CBS12's account, Mayor Young stressed the horn's role as a safety warning, and Council Member Rick Sartory said he was not ready to establish a zone.
- March 14, 2024. The Village Council approved staff applying for a 24-hour quiet zone at the Tequesta Drive crossing. The staff memo for that meeting said the FRA application itself carried no cost. Later that month, the Palm Beach Post reported that officials in Tequesta, Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens all planned to seek quiet zones within their own boundaries.
- May 2024. Tequesta Public Works Director Doug Chambers told WLRN the proposal was still under feasibility review and no federal application had been filed.
- January 2025. WLRN reported that the Village was upgrading its single crossing before applying to the FRA.
- Sept. 30, 2026. The FRA's marking corrections went on the Village's to-do list, and the restriping was scheduled for this fall.
Jupiter had more work to do than Tequesta did. WLRN reported in May 2024 that Jupiter's proposed improvements across its six crossings topped $1 million. Tequesta is working on one crossing. It started more cautiously, though, and it is now in the final stretch of meeting federal requirements, where details like the placement of lane markings can hold things up.
The Crossing Up the Road Is Not Tequesta's
The part that matters most for your evenings is the County Line Road crossing on Old Dixie Highway. It is under Martin County's jurisdiction, not the Village's, as CBS12 laid out in 2023. The Village's September report addresses it directly:
"Horns will still sound when needed for safety or emergencies, and will continue at the nearby County Line Road crossing, where a Quiet Zone has not been established."
Martin County's position has changed over time. In December 2023, the county said it would monitor its crossings for about a year and then evaluate quiet zone candidates based on safety data. In March 2025, commissioners voted unanimously against quiet zones, as WPTV reported. An assistant county engineer said the safety risk outweighed the quality-of-life impact. The county pointed to eight train incidents in the 18 months after Orlando service began, compared with four in the nine years before.
In May 2026, commissioners voted 3–2 to take the question up again at a future meeting, according to WFLX. They held off on scheduling it until an FRA representative could attend. The push came from Hobe Sound residents, who described more than 30 trains a day. That vote reopened the discussion. It did not set a date or start an application.
Here is how the four governments along this stretch stand on the same tracks:
| Jurisdiction | Crossings | Status as of fall 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Palm Beach Gardens | Six | Quiet zone in effect since late July 2025 |
| Jupiter | Six | Quiet zone in effect since Aug. 8, 2025 |
| Village of Tequesta | One, at Tequesta Drive and Old Dixie Highway | FRA marking corrections scheduled for October–November 2026, after which the quiet zone can be established |
| Martin County, including County Line Road and Hobe Sound | Not covered by Tequesta's project | Rejected in March 2025; 3–2 vote in May 2026 to revisit at a future meeting |
What Quiet Will Sound Like in Tequesta
Once the Tequesta Drive zone is established, the routine horns at the Village's own crossing should stop, with the safety and emergency exceptions the Village has described. Northbound trains will have come through twelve quiet crossings in Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter and one in Tequesta, and then they will sound their horns at County Line Road. Southbound trains will sound them there first. A quiet zone at Tequesta Drive does not reach that crossing.
A full end to the horns in north Tequesta depends on two things. The first is the Village finishing its restriping this fall. The second is a Martin County decision that has no meeting date yet, and that county has already voted against quiet zones once on safety grounds.
The Village has asked residents to keep "realistic limits on horn silence" in mind. The next updates to watch for are the Village's next project dashboard, which will show whether the October–November milling and restriping is finished, and any Martin County Commission agenda that schedules the quiet zone discussion with an FRA representative in attendance.
I follow the changes along Old Dixie Highway and Tequesta Drive closely, because noise, traffic and timing are part of what it is like to own a home in the Village. If you want to talk through how the crossing work and Martin County's decision might matter for your property, I am glad to share what I am seeing. Let's Connect with Ashley Washburn.
