Guide for Evaluating the Safety Performance of Shared Railway–Highway Interfaces

Safety issues exist at highway and rail crossings. However, safety concerns are not limited to crossing areas; they also exist in cases where one or more rail lines share at-grade roadway space with other roadway users, operating parallel along one side of the road, within the median, or within the roadway. These shared railway–highway interfaces include light rail (including streetcars) and heavy rail transporting passengers (intercity, commuter, and tourist lines) and freight within and adjacent to urban, suburban, and rural roads. These parallel and shared orientations create unique safety concerns that are not well-documented and do not have safety performance functions or crash modification factors to inform decision-making during project development. Research is needed to provide practitioners tools to evaluate the safety performance of shared railway-highway interfaces where the railroad track is within or immediately adjacent to the public roadway, including sidewalks, trails, medians, and shoulders. This research needs to consider all road users, including trains, other motorized vehicles, and nonmotorized users, (e.g., pedestrians or bicyclists.) The research objective is to develop a guide with a methodology, framework, and tools for evaluating the safety performance of shared railway-highway interfaces.

• Record URL:
  http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=5524
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Contract to a Performing Organization has not yet been awarded.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Proposed
• Funding: $400000
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 17-123

• Sponsor Organizations:

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  American Association of State Highway and 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
• Project Managers:

  Turner, Anne-Marie

• Start Date: 20240319
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash modification factors; Hazards; Highway safety; Highways; Medians; Nonmotorized transportation; Rail transit; Railroad grade crossings; Railroad safety; Railroad tracks; Railroads; Road shoulders; Roads; Roadside; Sidewalks; Vulnerable road users; Walkways
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01888639
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project 17-123
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Jul 25 2023 8:17AM