NEW PERSPECTIVES ON CLOSURE OF RAILROAD-HIGHWAY GRADE CROSSINGS AS A SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT

There are approximately 400,000 at-grade railroad-highway crossings in the United States; 219,000 are public at-grade crossings and roughly 166,440 of these have only crossbucks as warning devices. A conservative estimate is that it would cost more than $6 billion to install automatic warning devices at all these crossings, and the money is not available. Low-cost alternative solutions must be found to reduce the potential for death and destruction at these sites. A study now in progress is described that includes library and field research to determine and document the pros and cons of considering the closing of a railroad-highway grade crossing as a viable alternative when crossings and community needs are assessed. The main objective is a set of guidelines so that community impacts (benefits and disbenefits) can be assessed and form the basis on which community leaders, local highway authorities, and railroad personnel can negotiate. The benefits of closure are not one-sided: i.e., they are not all railroad-related. There can be many community benefits, which are enumerated and fully discussed.

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1981/802/802-013.pdf
• Record URL:
  • https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=NEW+PERSPECTIVES+ON+CLOSURE+OF+RAILROAD-HIGHWAY+GRADE+CROSSINGS+AS+A+SYSTEM+IMPROVEMENT&author=E.+Russell&publication_year=1981
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309032164
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Railroad-Highway Grade Crossings. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Authors:
  • Russell, Eugene R
• Conference:
  • 60th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board
  • Location: Washington District of Columbia, United States
  • Date: 1981-1-12 to 1981-1-16
• Publication Date: 1981

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References;
• Pagination: pp 80-85
• Monograph Title: Railroad track structure, electrification and operations management
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 802
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alternatives analysis; Analysis; Benefits; Guidelines; Impact studies; Improvements; Lane closure; Policy; Prevention; Public opinion; Railroad grade crossings; Safety; Social impacts; Social values; Specifications
• Uncontrolled Terms: Closures; Grade crossing closure; Justification
• Old TRIS Terms: Analytical techniques; Community consequences; Community values; Government policies; Grade crossing safety
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Policy; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies; Society; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00341978
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309032164
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Oct 28 1981 12:00AM