As of this fall, the Tequesta Drive quiet zone is waiting on paint. The Federal Railroad Administration has found that several pavement markings at the Tequesta Drive crossing have to be removed and moved before the crossing qualifies. The Village's engineer has listed the corrections, which include milling, repaving and restriping several lanes. Corrective work with the Village's road contractor is planned for October and November.
Even after Tequesta Drive goes quiet, the horn at the nearby County Line Road crossing will keep sounding, and the Village can't change that. Tequesta sits between a town that silenced its crossings in 2025 and a county that has so far said no. Which side of that line you live closest to decides how much quieter your evenings get.
The Holdup Is Lines on the Road
Quiet zones are earned with safety equipment, and Tequesta started building that equipment early. By December 2023, CBS12 reported that the Village had added gates and safety signs at the Tequesta Drive crossing and that officials said it met the criteria to apply. A March 2024 Village staff memo said safety measures put in years earlier already reduced some of the risk at a dual-track crossing where one line carries high-speed rail.
The Village's September 2026 project report shows how detailed federal review gets. The issue now is where the striping sits, not whether gates exist. Under the FRA's train horn rule, engineers generally sound the horn 15 to 20 seconds before a public crossing, with some exceptions for timing, in a set pattern of two long blasts, one short and one long. A local public authority can set up a quiet zone only after it makes up for the added risk of not sounding that horn as routine. Lane markings are part of how a crossing steers drivers, so they count.
The Village has been plain about what quiet will mean. Its report tells residents to expect "realistic limits on horn silence." Horns will still sound when safety or an emergency calls for it.
How a 2021 Goal Became a 2026 Paving Job
The timeline explains why neighbors in Jupiter got quiet first. Tequesta waited for Brightline to settle in, and for a while that waiting was the plan.
- 2021. "Establish Safe and Quiet Railroad Crossing" goes into the Village's Strategic Plan, and the memo notes it had been discussed even before then.
- The Brightline wait. The Village decides to hold off on an application until Brightline has an established schedule.
- December 4, 2023. At a Council workshop, members decide not to apply yet. CBS12 reported that officials wanted to give seasonal residents time to adjust to the faster trains. Council asks staff to bring the item back in March.
- March 14, 2024. The Council agenda includes a vote on letting staff apply. The memo notes the application costs nothing, the process takes "several months," and staff would look to the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council or a consultant for help.
- January 2025. Stet News reports that Tequesta is still upgrading its lone Tequesta Drive crossing before applying to the FRA.
- September 2026. The FRA's marking findings arrive, and the fixes are set for October and November.
Notice that Tequesta has one crossing in play. Jupiter had to bring six crossings into compliance. Even so, Tequesta's single crossing has taken longer than Jupiter's six.
The Neighbors Moved at Different Speeds
Jupiter worked through its process and finished. CBS12 reported that Jupiter's quiet zone took effect August 8, 2025 at all six of its crossings, after upgrades that included enhanced gates and warning lights. Palm Beach Gardens beat it by about two weeks. Stet News reported in July 2025 that the city set up the first quiet zone in northern Palm Beach County after more than two years of work and $125,000 in safety improvements.
North of the county line, the story goes the other way. In March 2025, WFLX reported that Martin County commissioners voted unanimously against quiet zones at the county's 27 crossings, citing safety concerns and the cost of improvements. Brightline was paying for up to $1 million in added fencing.
Here is how the crossings around Tequesta line up this fall:
| Crossing | Who decides | Where it stands, fall 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Jupiter crossings, Riverside Drive among them | Town of Jupiter | Quiet zone in effect since August 8, 2025 |
| Tequesta Drive | Village of Tequesta | FRA-required marking fixes planned for October–November 2026 |
| County Line Road | Martin County | Horns continue; no quiet zone set up |
| Hobe Sound and other Martin County crossings | Martin County | Rejected March 2025; reconsideration vote May 2026 |
County Line Road Belongs to Someone Else
This part of the story gets the least attention. The Village's own 2024 memo said the County Line crossing is Martin County's, and that the County planned to review it in September 2024. Tequesta can't add that crossing to its own application. The FRA gives the job of setting up a quiet zone to the public authority responsible for the crossing.
So the next real decision for the north end of Tequesta, and for Hobe Sound, lies with the Martin County Commission. On May 19, 2026, commissioners voted 3–2 to take up quiet zones again at a future meeting. WFLX reported they would wait to schedule it until a federal rail representative could attend. WPTV reported that day that no date had been set.
At that meeting, residents said more than 30 trains a day pass through. The Hobe Sound resident leading the push told commissioners, as WFLX reported, "This is not about eliminating safety, it's about improving quality of life while maintaining safety standards that are already recognized and approved by the FRA."
Train timing affects how all of this sounds at night. In July 2025, Stet News described Brightline as running hourly during the day, with FEC freight trains moving mostly at night. For homes within earshot of both crossings, a quiet Tequesta Drive will cut the routine horn at one crossing. The nighttime freight horn at County Line Road will continue.
Tequesta Drive Is a Work Zone From Both Ends This Fall
The crossing work isn't the only project on Tequesta Drive. The Village's September report also tracks the Tequesta Drive Bridge Restoration. Concrete spalling and paver walkway repairs were done. Crews had stripped corrosion from the steel sheeting on both sides, removed the old cap and set rebar for a new concrete encasement. About 75 percent of the bridge had been pressure washed and 40 percent had its first coat of paint. Rain and king tides had pushed the schedule back about a week, and the concrete pour was waiting for the water to drop.
To the west, Old Dixie Highway resurfacing was done by the end of September. Temporary markings and delineators were up at Bridge Road, and permanent striping was expected within about two weeks, weather permitting. Palm Beach County and Village Public Works plan to watch traffic there to see whether more changes are needed.
Put together, a Tequesta Drive commute this fall may pass crews at the bridge and later at the rail crossing. The crossing work has a clear purpose. Once the corrected markings meet the FRA's requirements, the Village can move to set up the quiet zone, and routine horns at Tequesta Drive can stop.
For more on day-to-day life in the Village, including this summer's park and restaurant news, see our Tequesta neighborhood guide and what changed in Tequesta this summer. If you live just across the line, the Hobe Sound guide covers the Martin County side.
When neighbors ask me how close a street is to Tequesta Drive or County Line Road, I give them an honest answer, because that kind of detail matters in everyday life here. If you'd like to talk through how the rail line affects a particular street or home in Tequesta or Hobe Sound, Barbara Smith is glad to help. Let's Connect.
