When Will the Train Horns Go Quiet on Tequesta Drive?

The Tequesta Drive crossing is close to becoming a quiet zone, but the remaining work is road work. In its September 2026 project update, the Village of Tequesta said the Federal Railroad Administration found that several pavement markings at the crossing "must be removed and relocated to meet Quiet Zone requirements." The fix means milling, paving and restriping several lanes. That work is scheduled for October and November with the Village's road contractor, and it has to be finished before the quiet zone can be established.

The same update sets limits on what residents should expect. 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."

So the Village's long effort will quiet one crossing. Tequesta sits between two other jurisdictions, and each has handled its own crossings on its own timeline. Both of them affect what you hear from the Florida East Coast corridor.

One crossing, three jurisdictions

When Village staff brought the quiet zone back to the council in March 2024, the memo named the two crossings next to Tequesta Drive and who controls each one. County Line was listed as a Martin County crossing, with a county review planned for September 2024. Riverside Drive was listed as a Jupiter crossing, where the Town was working with FEC and Brightline on corridor fencing.

Here is where each of those three crossings stands as of this month:

The Village's quiet zone covers only its own crossing. Federal rules require every crossing inside a designated zone to meet the safety standards, and they require the local government to work with the railroad and the state transportation authority. The Village memo describes a zone as a stretch of track at least one-half mile long. Tequesta can bring Tequesta Drive up to that standard. It has no say over the crossing just north of it.

Why Tequesta waited, and why that may have helped

A safe-and-quiet crossing has been in Tequesta's strategic plan since 2021, but the Village did not apply right away. According to the staff memo, officials waited until Brightline had an established schedule. At a Dec. 4, 2023 workshop, the council asked staff to bring the item back in March, and it came before the council on March 14, 2024. The memo said the FRA application carries no fee but could take several months. It also said that earlier safety upgrades on the double-track corridor had addressed some risk, and that a quiet zone applicant still has to offset the added risk that comes when trains stop sounding their horns as a matter of routine.

Two months later, in May 2024, WLRN reported that Tequesta's Public Works director said the Village was still studying feasibility and had not yet applied to the FRA. West Palm Beach already had a quiet zone by then, and Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens and Riviera Beach were working on crossing improvements.

Jupiter's experience shows how long the last steps can take. In January 2025, Stet News reported that Jupiter still had six safety corrections to make after federal inspections, with no completion date, and that Brightline was handling the final changes. Six months later, Stet News reported that Jupiter was about a week away from quiet zone status.

Tequesta is now in a similar position. The FRA reviewed the work, found problems with the markings, and the Village's engineer has identified the corrections. The Village has not published an effective date, and none should be assumed until the restriping is done and the federal steps are complete.

What changed in Jupiter in August 2025

The six Jupiter crossings in the quiet zone are Donald Ross Road, Frederick Small Road, Toney Penna Drive, Indiantown Road, Center Street and Riverside Drive. WPTV quoted the Town saying the zone would "officially go into effect this Friday, August 8," in 2025. The Palm Beach Post reported the same day that trains were no longer required to sound their horns at those crossings.

That was about 14 months ago. Since then, Riverside Drive, the Jupiter crossing next to Tequesta Drive, has been inside a quiet zone, and Tequesta Drive has not. Once the Village's corrections are finished, the quiet stretch will extend north through Tequesta and stop at County Line Road.

For a broader look at the Jupiter side of the river, see our Jupiter neighborhood page.

The northern edge is up to Martin County

The crossing that will keep sounding is in Martin County, and the county's position has shifted. In March 2025, WFLX reported that commissioners voted unanimously against implementing quiet zones. One year later, Martin County's March 10, 2026 meeting minutes list "implement Quiet Zones throughout the rail corridor" as one commissioner's priority.

On May 19, 2026, WPTV reported that commissioners voted 3–2 to discuss quiet zones at a future meeting, once an FRA representative can attend. No date has been set. The station said Hobe Sound residents are leading the push, and it quoted one of them describing "30-plus trains a day and 40-plus blows a day with the horn." The sources reviewed do not mention County Line Road as a crossing considered on its own, and they show no Martin County crossing with a quiet zone.

For now, the horn at the northern edge of Tequesta depends on a discussion in Stuart that has not been scheduled. Our Hobe Sound page covers the community just across that county line.

How many trains are we talking about

The most recent specific schedule figure comes from TCPalm. Effective Oct. 6, 2025, Brightline cut Miami–Orlando service from 16 round trips to 10, which took the Treasure Coast corridor from 32 Brightline trains a day to 20. That is the latest documented schedule. It is a year old, and no 2026 source was found that confirms it is still current.

The difference between the 20 Brightline trains in the schedule and the "30-plus" residents described in May 2026 is likely freight. WLRN's 2024 reporting described FEC freight as running mostly at night. No current freight count for this segment was found, so the total number of trains passing Tequesta Drive is not documented.

The rest of the work on Tequesta's roads this fall

The crossing repair is one of several street and bridge projects listed in the same September update:

• Tequesta Drive Bridge restoration. Concrete spalling and paver walkway repairs are finished. Crews removed corrosion from the steel sheeting on both sides, took off the old cap and set reinforcing bar for a new concrete encasement. About 75% of the bridge had been pressure washed and 40% had its first coat of paint. Rain and king tides pushed the work back about a week, and the concrete pour is waiting for water levels to drop. Vinyl sheeting is also planned to stabilize the northeast side.
• Old Dixie Highway resurfacing. Paving is complete. Temporary markings and delineators were placed at the Bridge Road intersection, which the Village describes as a location with a history of serious crashes. Permanent striping was expected within two weeks of the report, weather permitting, and Palm Beach County and Public Works will watch traffic there to decide whether more changes are needed.

Over the coming weeks, crews will be milling and restriping at the rail crossing on Tequesta Drive while the bridge on the same road gets its concrete pour. Expect lane changes at both spots this fall. When the corrections pass review, routine horns at Tequesta Drive are expected to stop. Horns will still sound for safety and emergencies, and they will continue at County Line Road. For more on the Village, see our Tequesta neighborhood page.

How close a home is to the FEC corridor, and to which crossing, affects what you hear there every day, and this fall the answer differs from one side of County Line Road to the other. If you would like a private conversation about how that plays out on a particular street in Tequesta, Jupiter or Hobe Sound, Leila Kallop is glad to talk it through. Request a private consultation.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.