Safety improvements at highway-railroad crossing for pedestrians and bicyclists and the assessment of long-term effects of centerline curbing.

Details

• Creators:
  Khattak, Aemal ; Luo, Zheng
• Corporate Creators:
  Nebraska Transportation Center
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Center Lines Cyclists Gates Grade Crossing Protection Systems Highway-railroad Grade Crossings--Safety Measures Lane Lines (Roads) Median Barriers Median Strips Pedestrians Railroad Grade Crossings
• Publication/ Report Number:
  SPR-P1(09) P323
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Nebraska
• Edition:
  Final report.
• Corporate Publisher:
  Nebraska. Dept. of Roads
• Abstract:
  The focus of the research reported herein was on assessing the long-term effectiveness of median barriers at highway-rail
  
  grade crossings (HRGCs), the impacts of barrier maintenance in resurrecting safety, and on exploring and assessing ways
  
  to improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety at HRGCs. Nebraska has about 7,000 HRGCs and each one represents a
  
  potential conflict point among trains and highway users, i.e., motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists. Safety at HRGCs is
  
  compromised when highway users resort to unsafe maneuvers, such as passing around closed gates when trains are
  
  approaching. Gate-related violations by motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists were studied at three selected HRGCs in
  
  Waverly, Fremont, and Lincoln, all cities located in Nebraska. The barrier at the Waverly HRGC was removed after being
  
  in place for a long time while the dilapidated barrier at the Fremont HRGC was revived through maintenance. An
  
  educational activity focused on pedestrians and bicyclists at the Fremont HRGC was evaluated for reducing gate violations.
  
  Removal of the barrier in Waverly contributed to greater frequency of unsafe maneuvers by motorists. Specifically, the
  
  frequencies of aggregate unsafe maneuvers (i.e., the sum of motorist gate rush, U-turn and backup), as well as gate rush
  
  and U-turn, increased after barrier removal. Safety deteriorated over the long-term at the Fremont HRGC while
  
  maintenance resurrected safety by reducing the frequency of passing around fully lowered gates by 30-50%. Regarding the
  
  effects of the educational campaign focused on pedestrians and bicyclists at the Fremont HRGC, the drive successfully
  
  reduced passing around fully lowered gates by about 39%. The recommendations from this research include emphasis on
  
  maintenance of barriers in top condition after installation and educational campaigns focused on pedestrians and bicyclists
  
  for safety improvements at HRGCs.
  
  
• Format:
  PDF
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b7687d0311edacfb6025d53355b573a55d55a4d121e4295586e03f9f2efc9fc38feafc427a90f4d82938c7d6246fabeaa892c683765bc9daaec95caf732b4000
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/25407/dot_25407_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.32 MB ]