ARVADA, Colo. -- Ten years ago six trains a day plied up and down the Union Pacific tracks in Arvada.

Now, after the merger of the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific railroads, there are 25 to 30.

Train horns blaring at railroad crossings in the wee hours have jolted many residents from their sleep, and have left their nerves frazzled.

"It's ear shattering," said Tondeleyo Dale, who lives near the crossing at 76th Avenue and Simms Street.

Bill Spies agrees. "It's terrible trying to sleep at 3 or 4 in the morning," he said.

"I think they lay on their horns just to wake us up," he added with a chuckle.

Assistant to the Arvada City Manager, Clark Johnson, said the city is working to change that.

"It's a quality of life issue," Johnson said.

Federal rules require that train horns be activated on the approach to every at grade crossing.

Johnson said the biggest danger at a crossing is when a motorist tries to beat the train by weaving past the crossing arms.

So Arvada is picking up the tab to make four crossings safer.

"We will install raised medians and curb and gutter to channel the traffic and prevent that weaving," Johnson said.

Those medians and curbs will be installed along the Union Pacific line at Pierce Street, Kipling Street, 72nd Avenue and Simms Street.

Once the crossings are safer, locomotive engineers won't have to blast their horns.

Johnson said if the project pans out at those four crossings, the city may consider spending more money at five other crossings.

Dale said she's looking forward to the improvements, and to the peace and quiet.

"I like the trains rolling by, I love that sound," she said. "But when they lay on those horns, I think some of those engineers are pretty enthusiastic."

Johnson said residents may still hear the occasional horn at those same crossings if the engineer notices someone or something on the tracks.

But he expects that noise complaints will drop dramatically once the quiet zones are implemented.

He said construction of the medians and curbs will begin in the next few days.

"If all goes according to plan, the quiet zones will take effect in July," Johnson said.

Several other communities will be watching Arvada's experiment, among them, Brighton and Lafayette.

Even Fort Collins is looking at quiet zones, but authorities there acknowledge that their problem is different.

Trains don't just cross streets in Fort Collins they run right down the middle of busy Mason Street.