Joint Rail Grade Crossing Committee
Chair: Karen Hankinson, RailPros, Inc., Irvine, CA, USA
Vice Chair: Nicole Jackson, Alfred Benesch & Company, Fort Worth, TX, USA
In June 2014, the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (NCUTCD) approved proposed revisions to Part 8 – Traffic Control for Railroad and Light Rail Transit Grade Crossings, of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). See the proposed changes here.
Mission Statement
The purpose of this Web site is to provide a location where members of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and other interested persons can obtain and share current information on best practices in highway-rail grade crossing safety and operational treatments. Information provided on this Web site is intended to supplement materials provided in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Railroad-Highway Grade Crossing Handbook as well as to provide more recent information relevant to practitioners involved in the selection and/or design of grade crossing traffic control devices.
Previous Meeting Minutes and Presentations
What is the Product from This Project?
This project expands the utility of the U.S. DOT Railroad-Highway Grade Crossing Handbook by providing links to related electronic resources and downloadable materials which supplement the 2007 document. This Web site provides a venue for submittal of new information, which extends the relevance of topics addressed in the handbook. In addition, the Web site hosts a discussion group where interested parties can comment on current and emerging topics of interest in the arena of grade crossing safety.
The intent of this project is to provide a forum where researchers and practitioners can submit supplemental materials relevant to the handbook, where new information can be tracked and where emerging treatments can be discussed. A panel of experts in the field of highway-rail grade crossings will moderate the forum, posting public comments on the handbook as well as reviewing technical and non-technical information provided by visitors to the site. A section of the Web site is dedicated to reference documentation that has been developed by agencies to assist in the design and operation of highway-rail grade crossings. Examples include the development of pre-emption spreadsheets, hazard index calculations and sample diagnostic team evaluation reports. The intent of this Web site is not to develop a recommended practice, rather the intent is to provide a location where agencies can share their established procedures and users can have a centralized location for information on grade crossings resources.
The TENC 102-02 Committee
The ITE Traffic Engineering Council (TENC) established TENC Committee 102-02 for the purpose of assembling Federal, State, and Local jurisdictional information on existing warrants, policies, and regulations governing selection of various alternative traffic control treatments and devices at highway-railroad grade crossings and to synthesize this information and make it available to practitioners.
Committee 102-02 provided a venue for ITE to develop an up-to-date resource to supplement the U.S. Department of Transportation's Railroad-Highway Grade Crossing Handbook (Revised Second Edition, August 2007). Since that time, committee members have been active in developing and applying best practices and standards for grade crossing design and safety through various venues including participation on the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, sponsoring webinars and sessions on grade crossing issues at ITE Technical Conferences and Annual Meetings, and actively participating in the field as public sector, private sector or institutional professionals.
