Rail-Highway Grade Crossings: Isolating Rideability Effects of Condition and Design

Quality of surface is an important aspect affecting both the safety and the performance of rail-highway grade crossings. Ride quality depends not only on the condition of the crossing and approach pavements, but also, and sometimes primarily on the original design as constructed. However, there are currently no accepted procedures for quantitatively differentiating the effect of condition from design on ride. This paper presents a method for making that differentiation. Vertical accelerations at a number of crossings are measured using accelerometers, reflecting the sum total effect of profile and condition. Crossing profiles are extracted from a 3D terrain model, obtained from a mobile LiDAR unit. The profiles are then smoothed to represent original crossing profiles as constructed. By estimating vertical accelerations for the smoothed surface profile and subtracting those from the measured accelerations, an estimate of the effect of crossing condition deterioration alone is produced. The resulting metric, termed Crossing Condition Index, can then be used to assess the condition of the crossing over time for performance analysis, or for other aspects of asset management.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AHB60 Standing Committee on Highway/Rail Grade Crossings.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Wang, Teng
  • Souleyrette, Reginald R
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2017-1-8 to 2017-1-12
• Date: 2017

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 13p
• Monograph Title: TRB 96th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Highway design; Laser radar; Railroad grade crossings; Ride quality
• Identifier Terms: Pavement Condition Index
• Uncontrolled Terms: Road conditions; Road profiles; Vertical acceleration
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01631694
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 17-03974
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Apr 1 2017 10:45PM