Study Details
Geometric effect analysis of highway-rail grade crossing safety performance
Study ID: 612
Authors: Keramati et al.
Publication Date: APR, 2020
Abstract: Highway-rail grade crossings (HRGCs) are where a roadway and railway intersect at the same level. Safety at HRGCs has been identified as a high-priority concern among transportation agencies, but there has been little research on the effects of HRGC geometric parameters on their safety performance. This paper evaluates the effects of HRGC geometric parameters on crash occurrence and severity likelihoods. The competing risk algorithm is selected to simultaneously analyze crash occurrence and severities. Four main HRGC geometric factors, along with other contributors, are investigated at 3,194 public HRGCs in North Dakota. This study focuses primarily on four geometric features of an HRGC: (1) acute crossing angle, (2) number of tracks (indicator of crossing width), (3) the roadway distance between the HRGC and the signalized intersection, and (4) number of highway lanes. Distance to the nearest roadway intersections and highway-railway crossing angles are map-based calculations drawn from geographic information systems (GIS). The findings are: (1) all contributors tested in this study, including highway characteristics, traffic exposures from both railway and highway, and the four geometric features, significantly affect at least one crash severity level; (2) all contributors significantly impact crash frequency except for the distance between crossings and the nearest roadway intersection; and (3) geometric parameters’ long-term effects on cumulative probability of crash severity and occurrence over 30 years is also evaluated. Crossings with three main tracks contribute the highest long-term crash probabilities.
Study Citation: Keramati, A., P. Lu, D. Tolliver, and X. Wang. "Geometric effect analysis of highway-rail grade crossing safety performance". Accident Analysis and Prevention, Vol. 138, (2020) pp. 105470.
Study Type: Journal Article/Book
Study Report: Download the Study Report Document
CMFs Associated With This Study
Category: Railroad grade crossings
Countermeasure: Change acute crossing angle (at highway-rail grade crossing)
| CMF | CRF(%) | Quality | Crash Type | Crash Severity | Roadway Type | Area Type |
|---|
| 0.997 | 0.3 |  | Other | O | Not specified | |
| 0.99 | 1 | | Other | A,B,C | Not specified | |
| 1 | 0 | | Other | All | Not specified | |
Countermeasure: Change crossing-intersection distance
| CMF | CRF(%) | Quality | Crash Type | Crash Severity | Roadway Type | Area Type |
|---|
| 0.9989 | 0.11 | | Other | O | Not specified | |
Countermeasure: Change number of main tracks (at highway-rail grade crossing)
| CMF | CRF(%) | Quality | Crash Type | Crash Severity | Roadway Type | Area Type |
|---|
| 1.55 | -55 | | Other | O | Not specified | |
Countermeasure: Change number of road lanes (at highway-rail grade crossing)
| CMF | CRF(%) | Quality | Crash Type | Crash Severity | Roadway Type | Area Type |
|---|
| 1.46 | -46 | | Other | O | Not specified | |
Countermeasure: Install Train Detection System
| CMF | CRF(%) | Quality | Crash Type | Crash Severity | Roadway Type | Area Type |
|---|
| 1.1 | -10 | | Other | O | Not specified | |
| 0.51 | | | Other | All | Not specified | |
Category:Roadway
Countermeasure: Change roadway surface condition (at highway-rail grade crossing)
| CMF | CRF(%) | Quality | Crash Type | Crash Severity | Roadway Type | Area Type |
|---|
| 0.43 | 57 | | Other | O | Not specified | |
