Post on 31-Dec-2015
transcript
Video Studies of Flexible Traffic Separators at Highway-
Railroad Grade Crossings
Florida Department of Transportation
Rail Office
Project Motivation
To enhance highway-railroad grade crossing safety by discouraging motorists from driving around gates to enter the crossing area
Project Tasks
Install traffic separator devices at three highway-railroad grade crossing sites in central Florida.
Perform a field evaluation of their operation
QWIK KURB ® Traffic Separators
A series of Type 3 object markers fastened to the roadway surface
CSX – Park Road (Hillsborough County
CSX-US 98 (Polk County)
CSX – Alt 17 (Polk County)
Study Methodology Time lapse video 24 hours per
tape 12V battery
power Tapes viewed by
observers to identify violations
Cabinet
Conduit
Telescoping Mast
Camera
Videotapes Obtained
Site Before After
Park Rd 41 days 20 daysUS 98 31 days 22 daysAlt 27 33 days 26 days
More than 4000 hours observed
Study Schedule Detail
Park Road US 98 SR 17
Before After Before After Before After
Sampling Interval 2/07/023/20/02
4/16/025/08/02
5/15/026/16/02
6/28/027/21/02
5/14/026/17/02
6/27/027/21/02
Trains (weekday) 7.9 10.5 15.2 12.2 15.5 15.1
Trains (weekend) 19.4 21.1 12.9 13.3 12.5 14.0
Total vehicles 2562 1887 614 324 461 293
Gate activations 657 410 450 328 540 403
Total trains 649 410 450 327 482 383
QWICK KURB® installation
04/16/02 06/27/02 06/27/02
Results …
Drive-around Violations
Site Before After
Park Rd (NB) 2 0US 98 6 1Alt 27 17 0Total 25 1
Anecdotal Observations:1. Truck Interactions
A truck pushed the gate into the path of a train at night
A gate closed on top of a truckA truck blocked the crossing
forcing (slow) train to stop
Anecdotal Observations:2. Damage to Traffic Separator
Several pieces of the separator were removed by a vehicle (outside of camera view) at the US 98 site
This site has a roadway width < 11 feet
Anecdotal Observations:2. Damage to Traffic Separator
Anecdotal Observations:3. Bicycle/ Pedestrian Violations
3 bicycle violations at Park Road
1 Pedestrian violation at US 98 and at Alt 17
All were before separator installation
Anecdotal Observations:4. Platoon Violation
Seven vehicles drove around the gate in one platoon at US 98
Anecdotal Observations:5. Pedestrian Trespass Fatality
A pedestrian was observed entering the track area and later reported killed.
Anecdotal Observations:6. Switching delays at Park Road
Frequent switching operations caused long crossing closures
Slow trains occasionally entered the crossing before the gates had fully descended
Anecdotal Observations:7. Gate violation after separators were installed
One vehicle drove around the separators and bypassed a queue of waiting vehicles The gates were down for 7 minutes before the train arrived
Anecdotal Observations:7. Gate violation after separators were installed
Conclusions …
Effectiveness of the Separators
The reduction of drive-around violations from 25 to 1 suggests that the traffic separators were effective in discouraging motorists from driving around the gates
Overall Violation Rates
Overall violation rates without separators at the study sites were lower than typically reported in the literature
Park Road Configuration The extremely low violation rates
were probably the result of a configuration that discouraged violations.
Since these same conditions would make violations more hazardous than normal, the separators could improve safety at this site even with a low violation rate.
Effect of Roadway Width
Roadways narrower than 11 feet may not be amenable to this treatment.
Future Implementation
Each potential site should be investigated using the general methodology of this study to determine whether or not separators are justified.
It should not normally be necessary to conduct follow up evaluation studies at future sites.