U.S. Department of Transportation Engineering Design for Pedestrian Safety at Federal Railroad Highway-Rail Grade Crossings Administration Office of Research, Development, and Technology Washington, DC 20590 DOT/FRA/ORD-16/24 Final Report June 2016 NOTICE This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The United States Government assumes no liability for its contents or use thereof. Any opinions, findings and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States Government, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the United States Government. The United States Government assumes no liability for the content or use of the material contained in this document. NOTICE The United States Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. 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REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED July 2016 Technical Report August 2013 – December 2014 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5. FUNDING NUMBERS Engineering Design for Pedestrian Safety at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings RR97A7-MJ576 6. AUTHOR(S) Alison Thompson, Bernard J. Kennedy IV 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION U.S. Department of Transportation REPORT NUMBER John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center DOT-VNTSC-FRA-15-01 55 Broadway Cambridge MA 02142 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSORING/MONITORING U.S. Department of Transportation AGENCY REPORT NUMBER Federal Railroad Administration Office of Research and Development DOT/FRA/ORD-16/24 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE Washington, DC 20590 11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 12a. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT 12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE This document is available to the public through the FRA Web site at http://www.fra.dot.gov. 13. ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 words) A number of pedestrian treatments at railroad grade crossings have been developed and are used throughout the United States. The decision of when to use these treatments is generally a matter of best practices, using a decision tree, or conducting a site assessment. There has been little research on the efficacy of particular treatments. More important, because pedestrian treatments are seldom, if ever, used in isolation, there is no known research on what particular configurations of available pedestrian treatments provide the highest level of safety. A USDOT 2010 policy statement encourages transportation agencies to improve opportunities for pedestrian and bicyclists. The United States Access Board, in turn, has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to establish guidelines to address public right of way issues for people with disabilities. In anticipation of more non-motorized users of varying abilities making use of pedestrian grade-crossing facilities, it is important that the efficacy of pedestrian treatments at grade crossings be fully understood. 14. SUBJECT TERMS 15. NUMBER OF PAGES Highway-Rail grade crossing, pedestrian safety, trespass, railroad safety, grade crossing 60 treatments 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 18. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 19. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 20. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT OF REPORT OF THIS PAGE OF ABSTRACT Unclassified Unclassified Unclassified NSN 7540-01-280-5500 Standard Form 298 (Rev. 2-89) Prescribed by ANSI Std. 239-18 298-102 i ii METRIC/ENGLISH CONVERSION FACTORS ENGLISH TO METRIC METRIC TO ENGLISH LENGTH (APPROXIMATE) LENGTH (APPROXIMATE) 1 inch (in) = 2.5 centimeters (cm) 1 millimeter (mm) = 0.04 inch (in) 1 foot (ft) = 30 centimeters (cm) 1 centimeter (cm) = 0.4 inch (in) 1 yard (yd) = 0.9 meter (m) 1 meter (m) = 3.3 feet (ft) 1 mile (mi) = 1.6 kilometers (km) 1 meter (m) = 1.1 yards (yd) 1 kilometer (km) = 0.6 mile (mi) AREA (APPROXIMATE) AREA (APPROXIMATE) 1 square inch (sq in, in2) = 6.5 square centimeters (cm2) 1 square centimeter (cm2) = 0.16 square inch (sq in, in2) 1 square foot (sq ft, ft2) = 0.09 square meter (m2) 1 square meter (m2) = 1.2 square yards (sq yd, yd2) 1 square yard (sq yd, yd2) = 0.8 square meter (m2) 1 square kilometer (km2) = 0.4 square mile (sq mi, mi2) 1 square mile (sq mi, mi2) = 2.6 square kilometers (km2) 10,000 square meters (m2) = 1 hectare (ha) = 2.5 acres 1 acre = 0.4 hectare (he) = 4,000 square meters (m2) MASS - WEIGHT (APPROXIMATE) MASS - WEIGHT (APPROXIMATE) 1 ounce (oz) = 28 grams (gm) 1 gram (gm) = 0.036 ounce (oz) 1 pound (lb) = 0.45 kilogram (kg) 1 kilogram (kg) = 2.2 pounds (lb) 1 short ton = 2,000 pounds = 0.9 tonne (t) 1 tonne (t) = 1,000 kilograms (kg) (lb) = 1.1 short tons VOLUME (APPROXIMATE) VOLUME (APPROXIMATE) 1 teaspoon (tsp) = 5 milliliters (ml) 1 milliliter (ml) = 0.03 fluid ounce (fl oz) 1 tablespoon (tbsp) = 15 milliliters (ml) 1 liter (l) = 2.1 pints (pt) 1 fluid ounce (fl oz) = 30 milliliters (ml) 1 liter (l) = 1.06 quarts (qt) 1 cup (c) = 0.24 liter (l) 1 liter (l) = 0.26 gallon (gal) 1 pint (pt) = 0.47 liter (l) 1 quart (qt) = 0.96 liter (l) 1 gallon (gal) = 3.8 liters (l) 1 cubic foot (cu ft, ft3) = 0.03 cubic meter (m3) 1 cubic meter (m3) = 36 cubic feet (cu ft, ft3) 1 cubic yard (cu yd, yd3) = 0.76 cubic meter (m3) 1 cubic meter (m3) = 1.3 cubic yards (cu yd, yd3) TEMPERATURE (EXACT) TEMPERATURE (EXACT) [(x-32)(5/9)] °F = y °C [(9/5) y + 32] °C = x °F QUICK INCH - CENTIMETER LENGTH CONVERSION 0 1 2 3 4 5 Inches Centimeters 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 987 1110 1312 QUICK FAHRENHEIT - CELSIUS TEMPERATURE CONVERSIO °F -40° -22° -4° 14° 32° 50° 68° 86° 104° 122° 140° 158° 176° 194° 212° °C -40° -30° -20° -10° 0° 10° 20° 30° 40° 50° 60° 70° 80° 90° 100° For more exact and or other conversion factors, see NIST Miscellaneous Publication 286, Units of Weights and Measures. Price $2.50 SD Catalog No. C13 10286 Updated 6/17/98 ii Acknowledgements The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Office of Research and Development sponsored the work leading to this report. The authors would like to thank Sam Alibrahim, Chief, FRA Train Control and Communications Division, and Tarek Omar, Program Manager, FRA Office of Research and Development, for their guidance and direction in developing this report. Special recognition is due to the following organizations for participating in interviews and providing the authors with invaluable information and many of the photographs in this report: • Amtrak • Caltrain • Capital Metro • San Diego’s North County Transportation District • Metrolink • New Jersey Transit (NJT) • Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) The authors would also like to thank Marco daSilva, Principal Investigator of Surface Transportation Programs, Volpe Center, USDOT John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems (Volpe Center) and Leonard Allen, Chief of the Systems Safety and Engineering Division, Volpe Center, for their leadership and direction. iv Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv Illustrations vii Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 9 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 11 1.1 Background ............................................................................................................... 12 1.2 Objectives .................................................................................................................. 12 1.3 Overall Approach ...................................................................................................... 12 1.4 Scope ......................................................................................................................... 13 1.5 Organization of the Report ........................................................................................ 13 2. Literature Review and Outreach ................................................................................ 14 2.1 Literature Review ...................................................................................................... 14 2.2 Outreach .................................................................................................................... 15 3. Pedestrian Treatments ............................................................................................... 26 3.1 Smart Warning Systems ............................................................................................ 27 3.2 Pedestrian Swing Gates ............................................................................................