Revised 7/09 5
• Warning Device Upgrades: Installation of automatic flashing light signals and gates at public grade crossings currently not equipped with automatic warning devices; installation of automatic flashing light signals and gates at public grade crossings currently equipped only with automatic flashing light signals; signal circuitry improvements at public grade crossings currently equipped only with automatic warning devices;
• Grade Separations - New and Reconstructed: Construction, reconstruction, or repair of bridges carrying a local road or street over railroad tracks (overpass); construction, reconstruction, or repair of bridges carrying railroad tracks over a local road or street (subway);
• Grade Separations - Vertical Clearance Improvements: Lowering the existing highway pavement surface under a railroad bridge to improve vertical clearance for motor vehicles;
• Pedestrian Grade Separations: Construction of a bridge to carry pedestrian/bicycle traffic over or under railroad tracks;
• Interconnects: Upgrading the circuitry at grade crossings where warning signals are connected to the adjacent traffic signals so that the two systems operate in a synchronized manner;
• Highway Approaches: Improvements to the portion of the public roadway directly adjacent to the crossing surface;
• Connecting Roads: Construction of a roadway between a closed crossing and an adjacent open, improved crossing;
• Remote Monitoring Devices: Sensor devices in the circuitry of grade crossing warning devices which immediately alert the railroad to any failures in warning device operations;
• Low Cost Improvements at Unsignalized Crossings: Installation of new, more reflective crossbuck warning signs and YIELD signs at crossings that do not require automatic warning devices; and
• Crossing Closures: Provide an incentive payment to local agencies for the voluntarily closure of public highway-rail grade crossings.
• Crossing Surface Renewals1: Provide up to $2 million annually to railroads for the reconstruction of highway-rail grade crossing surfaces.
[1Note: Pursuant to Public Act 96-0034]
The cost of railroad crossing safety improvements varies substantially depending on the nature of the work undertaken. A standard installation of gates with automatic flashing light signals on a two-lane road typically costs approximately $180,000-$200,000. Additional costs for road improvements could typically range from $2,000 to $100,000 depending on the road type and location. Grade separation structures are very costly. The GCPF has made contributions to pavement lowering (vertical clearance improvements) projects ranging in cost from $35,000 to $3 million, and new underpass structures costing as much as $36 million. Bridges over railroads can cost from $600,000 for a rural structure to $40 million for a multi-lane multi-railroad urban structure. Typically, the ICC authorizes contributions from GCPF that pay up to 60% of the cost for grade separation projects and 85% to 95% for grade crossing improvements, although ICC policy is to allocate no more than $12 million from the GCPF to any individual project unless unusual circumstances warrant. When the
