About ITE

Railroad Grade Crossing Committee

Chair: Karen Hankinson, PE, TE - Olsson, Irvine, CA, USA

Vice Chair: Nicole Jackson, PE, PTOE - Benesch, Fort Worth, TX, USA

Secretary: Maryam Hedayati, P.Eng - Transport Canada, Nepean, ON, Canada

 

Mission

To share current information on best practices in highway-rail grade crossing safety and operational treatments between members and other interested parties.

Background

The Traffic Engineering Council established the Railroad Grade Crossing Committee for sharing Federal, State, and Local standards and best practices on traffic control treatments and devices at highway-railroad grade crossings and to synthesize this information and make it available to practitioners.

The Committee provides a venue for ITE to develop an up-to-date resources to supplement the U.S. Department of Transportation's Highway-Rail Crossing Handbook, 3rd Edition and ITE’s Preemption of Traffic Signals Near Railroad Grade Crossings, 2nd Edition Recommended Practice, as well as to provide more current information relevant to practitioners involved in the selection and/or design of highway-rail grade crossing traffic control devices. Committee members are active in developing and applying best practices and standards for grade crossing safety, design, and operation through various venues including participation on the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices,  American Railway Engineering and Maintenance Association (AREMA), and Transportation Operations and Maintenance Committee (TOMC) of the Transportation Association of Canada (TAC). In addition, the committee sponsors webinars, workshops, and sessions on grade crossing issues at ITE meetings, and with participation from public sector, private sector, and institutional professionals

To become a member, please add yourself to the Railroad Grade Crossing Committee’s ITE e-Community (available to ITE members only). You are encouraged to participate in the e-Community as a forum where researchers and practitioners can share and discuss materials relevant to the highway-rail grade crossing recent publications and studies, where new information can be tracked, and where emerging practices can be discussed. Examples include the development of preemption spreadsheets, hazard index calculations, and sample diagnostic team evaluation reports. The Railroad Grade Crossing e-Community provides a location where agencies can share their established procedures and users can have a centralized location for discussion of highway-rail grade crossings resources.

Committee Meeting Minutes, Webinars, Presentations, Publications

The Committee usually meets virtually four times every year:

January 23, 2025 Meeting Agenda

July 2024 Meeting | October 2024 Meeting 

Prior Meeting Archive

Index of Past Conference Presentations

For more information and availability please contact Douglas Noble (dnoble@ite.org)

Quick Bites: 

Track Angle of Railroad Grade Crossings Effect on Bicycles

Two-Way Separated Bike Lanes at  Railroad Grade 

Webinar(s): Introduction to the New Highway-Rail Crossing Handbook, 3rd Edition (on-demand)

Traffic Signal - Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Preemption Resources

Various factors contribute to the safety of a highway rail grade crossing near an intersection controlled by a traffic signal, including railroad preemption of the traffic signal. This section provides useful information for practitioners to understand the key elements of preemption as well as worksheets to calculate adequate  warning and preemption time.

Preemption of Traffic Signals Near RR Grade Crossings 2nd Edition Cover

Seven Points Every Traffic Engineer Should Know About Rail Preemption Installations by Brent D. Ogden provides an introduction for those less familiar with this aspect of traffic signal design, timing, and operation. The ITE recommended practice Preemption of Traffic Signals Near Railroad Grade Crossings, 2nd Edition offers detailed content and guidance regarding the topic.

Sample Preemption Forms

Knowing how much preemption time is needed is a key factor in timing traffic signals near highway-rail at-grade crossings. The following forms and instructions provide methodology and worksheets to determine the adequate amount of preemption and advance preemption time needed. Please confirm with your particular jurisdiction to confirm the most applicable form for your project. (Note: Some links may download in excel or zip format to preserve file attributes.)

Caltrans

City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation

Minnesota DOT

North Carolina DOT

Ohio DOT

Texas Department of Transportation

Utah Department of Transportation

Washington State DOT

Louisiana State DOT

Illinois State DOT 

Oregon State DOT 

Wisconsin State DOT 

Please contact Karen or Nicole if your state has additional resources you would like included.

Resources Grade Crossing Reference Information

MUTCD

On December 19, 2023, a Final Rule adopting the 11th Edition of the MUTCD was published in the Federal Register with an effective date of January 18, 2024. States must adopt the 11th Edition of the National MUTCD as their legal State standard for traffic control devices within two years from the effective date. Follow the link below to access the latest manual:

Compliance dates for two provisions under Part 8 are adopted in this final rule. The compliance dates are summarized in Table 1B-1 of the MUTCD and are described in detail below and as stated I the Federal Register:

  • The NPA included a compliance date of 5 years for the new Guidance in Section 8B.16 recommending the installation of Low Ground Clearance and/or Vehicle Exclusion and detour signs for vehicles with low ground clearances that might become immobilized or hung up on high-profile grade crossings due to their undercarriages being too low to clear the roadway profile at the track crossing. The proposed compliance date applied only to those locations with known histories of vehicle hang-ups occurring, because sufficient geometric criteria do not currently exist for agencies to evaluate crossings to determine the specific types of vehicles that could experience hang-up situations. Comments on this section acknowledged the value of detour signing for low clearance vehicles in certain cases but suggested there are too many variables in terms of geometric conditions and the types of vehicles and vehicle combinations to adequately identify the risk of these vehicles hanging up at a grade crossing. There were also comments that suggested signing for all vehicles that could potentially hang up at crossings would result in excessive signing and driver confusion. There were also comments about the proposed compliance date, suggesting instead that devices should be brought into compliance through routine maintenance operations. Despite the challenges, FHWA acknowledged the need, as recommended in the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommendation H-18-024, to provide guidance to agencies to help identify and address high-profile crossings, especially those that are known from past experience to be subject to specific vehicle type hang-ups. The text provides Guidance and Support to assist agencies in addressing these situations through signing. The compliance date applies to known potential vehicle hang-up locations that are currently identified by agencies through their grade crossing inventory.
  • The NPA included a compliance date of 10 years for evaluation and installation of appropriate treatments), including preemption, movement prohibition, pre-signals, or queue cutter signals, for highway traffic signals located at or near grade crossings. Commenters indicated that the costs to evaluate and implement these treatments at highway traffic signals can be significant and may not align with the agency's other priorities. Commenters also pointed out that the number of impacted locations varies greatly by State creating a significant challenge for some States to meet the proposed compliance date. Comments suggested that devices should be brought into compliance through the systematic replacement and upgrade of traffic control devices and not subject to a compliance date. This final rule adopted the compliance date for Sections 8D.09 through 8D.12 with revisions to require only an assessment and determination of appropriate treatment to reach compliance at specific locations. Agencies will be granted flexibility to determine the schedule for installation of improvements based on availability of funding and other safety priorities through the systematic replacement and upgrade of traffic control devices as currently prescribed in the MUTCD for other traffic control devices.

Preemption of Traffic Signals near Railroad Grade Crossings

The ITE Preemption of Traffic Signals near Railroad Grade Crossings Recommended Practice provides practitioners with comprehensive information, including examples, of the interconnection between grade crossing signal systems and traffic signal systems. The 2nd Edition was published in April 2021 and the ITE Grade Crossing Committee is currently underway with making revisions to be consistent with the 11th Edition of the MUTCD. A link to the current Recommended Practice is provided below:

Pre-Signals

Pre-Signals are traffic signals in advance of the highway rail grade crossings. This article from the ITE Journal (2006), "Use of Pre-Signals in Advance of a Highway Rail Grade Crossing: A Specialized Tool with Specific Applications", describes the use of pre-signals in the United States.

Hazard Index Calculations

The Federal Railroad Administration provides an online application for determining the hazard index of an at-grade crossing. Follow the link below to use the application.

Sample Diagnostic Team Evaluation Reports

Diagnostic Team Evaluations of grade crossings are an important part of evaluating the safety of at-grade crossings.

Here are a couple of examples: 

Comprehensive Costs of Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Crashes

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 755: Comprehensive Costs of Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Crashes describes a process for estimating the costs of highway-rail grade crossing crashes. 

Links

ITE Councils Home

Traffic Engineering Council 

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