A Comprehensive Safety Analysis of the Britton Highway Railroad Grade Crossing (HRGC)

The number of fatal traffic accidents at railroad crossings has decreased, but concerns persist about certain locations that remain significant safety hazards. The Britton Highway Railroad Grade Crossings (HRGC) in Oklahoma City is one such perilous intersection in Oklahoma, with 24 documented highway-railroad collisions occurring over the past 25 years. This paper conducts an in-depth safety analysis of this critical intersection, leveraging data from the HRGC inventory and crash database maintained by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) since the 1970s, as well as the Collision database managed by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) since 1998. A total of 514 highway-only crashes have been reported at the Britton intersection. A considerable portion of these incidents involved motor vehicles, with a significant number transpiring during daylight hours. It was observed that the nearby ungated HRGC, situated within 500 feet, which intersects with a local road, often served as an alternative route when the Britton HRGC was temporarily closed for passing trains. This secondary intersection witnessed eight highway-railroad accidents during the same timeframe, along with 67 highway-only crashes. Consequently, an analysis was conducted to assess the influence of traffic characteristics, highway geometry design, HRGC control devices, and other factors, to gain deeper insights into the safety implications of this HRGC. The findings in this paper could underscore the potential for reducing accident occurrences by implementing effective safety measures and supporting data-driven decision-making to enhance safety and curtail accidents at this intersection.