Effectiveness Evaluation of Treatments at Highway Rail Grade Crossings: Case Studies in Region Six

Sunday, June 16, 2024

3:00 PM - 4:15 PM ET

Room: Galleria

Co-Author(s)

Xue Yang, na

PhD student
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States

Presenter(s)

Xue Yang, na

PhD student
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States

Primary Author(s)

Joshua Q. Li, PhD, PE

Associate Professor Williams Professor
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK, United States

Co-Author(s)

PL

Pan Lu, PhD

Associate Professor
North Dakota State University
Fargo, ND, United States

Submitter(s)

Joshua Q. Li, PhD, PE

Associate Professor Williams Professor
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK, United States

Abstract:

Highway-rail at-grade crossings (HRGCs) are critical spatial locations of utmost importance for transportation safety and various treatments and technologies have been implemented to achieve safer and more efficient operations of both railroad and highway traffic at HRGCs. To understand the safety effectiveness of emerging treatments and technologies, the HRGC inventory and crash historical data maintained by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) were collected for the five States in Region 6 and a data-driven evaluation process was developed for calculating the crash modification factors (CMFs) using the before and after analysis of crash records with different HRGC control device treatments. It was found that updating control devices of HRGCs into higher-level control devices except stop signs can reduce crash and crash rates. This study could assist in evaluating the effectiveness of control device treatments for better decision-making and selecting appropriate preventive treatments for improved HRGC safety.

Learning Objectives:

Attendees can expect to learn the following from this session:

Understand how the effectiveness of HRGC treatments is evaluated
Understand the process of developing CMFs
Understand the value of this research