Highway Rail Crossing Prioritization

US Transportation Collection2015PDFBriefGibson, BryanSoulyerette, RegUniversity of Kentucky Transportation CenterKentucky. Transportation CabinetUniversity of Kentucky Transportation CenterKentuckyRailroad grade crossingsRehabilitation (Maintenance)Qualitative analysisQuantitative analysisEvaluationQuestionnairesKTC-15-03/SPR57-4-15-1FResearch team members at the University of Kentucky in the Department of Civil Engineering and the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) worked with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) to develop a high-level mechanism for ranking highway-rail crossings for reconstruction and/or rehabilitation. The Highway Rail Crossing Prioritization implementation study yielded the Rail Crossing Improvement Priority (RCIP), which combined qualitative measures of crossing conditions with quantitative measures including proposed project costs and a valuation of the crossing based on rail and truck traffic. This effort provides a template by which further development can yield prioritization procedures for road-rail grade separation projects. The RCIP resulted in a toolkit for KYTC that consists of several components. Full documentation of the efforts including an evaluation questionnaire, instructions, background, and scoring workbook is available on the KTC website at: http://www.ktc.uky.edu/research/public-transit-rail-water/rail/. A brief summary of each of these documents including example figures is included. The evaluation questionnaire asks proposers for basic information on the highway-rail crossing and the proposed project. The information is drawn from the individual proposer as well as the Web Based Accident Prevention System (WBAPS) and an attached qualitative assessment form. A snapshot of the two page questionnaire is shown in Figure 1. Questions are divided into categories including proposer information, crossing location basic information, highway information, rail information, crossing assessment (based on an additional evaluation form), and construction information.137