Pilot Implementation for Preventing Incorrect Turns at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings

Incorrect turns onto railroad tracks may occur if a highway-rail grade crossing is close to an intersection or a freeway on-ramp. This project aimed to evaluate three low-cost countermeasures to prevent incorrect turns onto railroad tracks: (1) elimination of potentially misleading pavement markings and signs before railroad crossings, (2) implementation of straight arrow pavement markings with guidance information before railroad crossings, and (3) installation of Qwick Kurb to prevent drivers from making U-turns at railroad crossings. A surrogate safety measure, hesitation rate in the upstream of at-grade railroad crossings, was developed to represent the risk of incorrect turns onto railroad tracks. A before-after study was conducted to collect and compare the safety measure before and after implementation of proposed countermeasures at eight study sites in Florida Department of Transportation Districts 1, 4, and 7. The study results showed that (1) the replacement of continuous right-turn arrows with straight arrows plus guidance information on pavement can effectively prevent incorrect turns onto railroad tracks; (2) the effectiveness of using straight arrows plus guidance information pavement markings before railroad crossings is more significant at night than that during daytime to prevent incorrect turns of vehicles onto railroad tracks; (3) overall, the proposed countermeasures can reduce hesitation rates by 85% in daytime and 97% in nighttime, at a confidence level of 99.9%; (4) the effectiveness of straight arrows plus guidance information pavement markings may be influenced by external factors, such as upstream driveways near railroad tracks and presence of existing countermeasures (dynamic envelope, etc.); and (5) there were zero incorrect U-turn observations after the installation of Qwick Kurb devices. Based on the research findings, the research team recommended implementation of the pavement markings of straight arrows plus guidance information pavement markings on exclusive turn lanes upstream of at-grade crossings where the risk of incorrect turns exists. Qwick Kurb is suggested to be installed at at-grade crossings where frequent U-turns occur.

• Record URL:
  https://fdotwww.blob.core.windows.net/sitefinity/docs/default-source/research/reports/fdot-bdv25-977-54-rpt.pdf
• 
• Summary URL:
  https://fdotwww.blob.core.windows.net/sitefinity/docs/default-source/research/reports/fdot-bdv25-977-54-sum.pdf
• Summary URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/74629
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/54865
• Corporate Authors:

  University of South Florida, Tampa

  Center for Urban Transportation Research
  4202 Fowler Avenue
  Tampa, FL  United States  33620-5373

  Florida Department of Transportation

  605 Suwannee Street
  Tallahassee, FL  United States  32399-0450
• Authors:
  • Lin, Pei-Sung
  • Wang, Zhenyu
  • Vasili, Abhijit
  • Yang, Runan
• Publication Date: 2019-11

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 72p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: At grade intersections; Countermeasures; Highway safety; Plan implementation; Railroad grade crossings; Railroad safety; Railroad tracks; Road markings; Turning traffic
• Identifier Terms: Florida Department of Transportation
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01733758
• Record Type: Publication
• Contract Numbers: BDV25-977-54
• Files: NTL, TRIS, ATRI, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Mar 20 2020 10:10AM