Assessing Safety Effectiveness of Treatments and Technologies at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings

A variety of approaches and methods have been used by state departments of transportation (DOTs) for assessing safety effectiveness of treatments and technologies at highway-rail grade crossings (HRGCs). These approaches and methods are based on early data and do not consider all operational aspects of HRGCs or recently developed technologies, and there is no widely accepted approach for such assessment. There is a need to develop a framework for assessing safety effectiveness of treatments and technologies at HRGCs that incorporates rational processes and appropriate electronic-based tools to provide a realistic means for assessing safety effectiveness. This framework and tools will help state DOTs personnel in making informed decisions regarding treatments and technologies at HRGCs to reduce incidents and improve safety. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this research was to develop a framework for assessing safety effectiveness, in terms of predicted incident severity and frequency, of different treatments and technologies at HRGCs together with processes and electronic-based tools to facilitate implementation.

• Record URL:
  • http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4975
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Research is complete. The final report has been published as NCHRP Research Report 1163, available at https://doi.org/10.17226/29286 and the implementation tool available at https://www.nationalacademies.org/osdocs/NCHRP%2017-99%20Tool_Rev%2020250525.xlsx.

Language

• English

Project

• Funding: $399,968.00
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 17-99

• Sponsor Organizations:

  State Departments of Transportation (participating member states of American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO))

  American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO)
  444 North Capitol Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP)

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Project Managers:

  Khaleghi, Bijan

• Performing Organizations:

  Oklahoma State University, Stillwater

  Stillwater, OK  United States 
• Principal Investigators:

  Li, Joshua

• Start Date: 20220831
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 20250530

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Evaluation and assessment; Grade crossing protection systems; Highway safety; Improvements; Railroad grade crossings; Railroad safety; Technological innovations
• Subject Areas: Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01739572
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project 17-99
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: May 19 2020 4:46PM