BACKGROUND: A variety of approaches and methods have been used by state departments of transportation (DOTs) for assessing safety effectiveness of treatments and technologies at highway-rail grade crossings (HRGCs). These approaches and methods are based on early data and do not consider all operational aspects of HRGCs or recently developed technologies, and there is no widely accepted approach for such assessment. There is a need to develop a framework for assessing safety effectiveness of treatments and technologies at HRGCs that incorporates rational processes and appropriate electronic-based tools to provide a realistic means for assessing safety effectiveness. This framework and tools will help state DOTs personnel in making informed decisions regarding treatments and technologies at HRGCs to reduce incidents and improve safety.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this research was to develop a framework for assessing safety effectiveness, in terms of predicted incident severity and frequency, of different treatments and technologies at HRGCs together with processes and electronic-based tools to facilitate implementation.

STATUS: Research  is complete. The final reort will be published as  NCHRP Research Report 1163, and the implementation tool will be posted on the project webpage.