Most disruptive grade crossing?

[RM42]

What are some grade crossings that routinely cause backups of large traffic volumes, severely harm traffic patterns, or are otherwise poorly placed?

[jeffandnicole]

2 locations in Delaware, where they have posted signs warning of potential delays:

US 40 before Salem Church Road; the crossing is about a mile down the road:  https://maps.app.goo.gl/KAdgJMeDwtcUL2ij9

Centerville Road in the Newport area: https://maps.app.goo.gl/L8Md92TY3bNt8B8FA

[Dirt Roads]

Near downtown Houston, the Leeland Street crossing and the adjacent Cullen Boulevard crossing on the West Belt Subdivision (of the Houston Belt and Terminal Railroad) are notorious for long trains tying up the crossings.  Similar to the Alameda Corridor in Los Angeles, the West Belt has been slated for a major grade separation project that includes four other crossings in the downtown area.  The York Street crossing is listed as a major crossing as well, but it doesn't appear to be as "busy" as the others.

[Max Rockatansky]

All of them on CA 68 east of CA 1.

[Bruce]

Naito Parkway under the Steel Bridge in Portland: https://www.google.com/maps/@45.5272758,-122.6716628,379m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu

This one is infamous for blocking a major downtown entrance for an hour or longer. It's also a major cycling route, and many impatient people hop between the traincars to continue onward.

[hbelkins]

US 15 between I-66 and US 29 near Haymarket, Va.

[WillWeaverRVA]

There are two in the Richmond, VA area that are particularly bad:

- VA 147 and Robious Rd in Chesterfield County that has a CSX rail line running through the middle of it. Despite it being only a single track, it is fairly busy with several trains per day and this causes backups in all directions except eastbound VA 147 turning onto eastbound Robious Rd (which is the only motion not blocked when a train passes through). The original configuration of this intersection had VA 147 approach from the south, turn left onto Robious Rd to cross the track, then turn right onto current VA 147.

- VA 10 and VA 161 in the City of Richmond, which has a two-track rail line on the southern/western side of the intersection.

[CovalenceSTU]

The quad tracks next to Division St in Portland are another bad one, it even had its own website for a while: isatrainblocking11th.com

[02 Park Ave]

The level crossing on La Grange Road in downtown La Grange IL is certainly disruptive.  The "BNSF racetrack" is used by Metra, Amtrak, and BNSF itself.

Metra and Amtrak trains can long enough to actually block the crossing whilst stopped at the La Grange station.  When you see an orange BNSF diesel coming along you know that you are in for a lengthy wait as it usually is pulling a long freight train.

Traffic can really get tied up around 5:00.  Sometimes the gates can be down for ten minutes or longer for multiple trains on all three of the tracks.. 

[webny99]

US 15 in Dillsburg and Shamokin Dam, both segments of at-grades on an otherwise free flowing route. CSVT project will address the latter.

[freebrickproductions]

- VA 147 and Robious Rd in Chesterfield County that has a CSX rail line running through the middle of it.

Slight correction: that's an NS line, lol.

As for disruptive ones, technically any located on a passing siding could qualify, such as this, but those tend to usually be rather rural county roads that don't see massive amounts of use to begin with.

One particularly notable one is the one on Sullivan Street in Madison, AL (Google Maps Link), as it's on a three-lane arterial for the city. It's also not helped by the fact that intermodal train NS 283 usually has to stop and drop-off a cut of intermodal cars on the storage track just east of the downtown. For whatever reason, despite both complaints from the residents and the train crews, the block of intermodal that's dropped there is almost always located right in the middle of the train, meaning that the train can be sat blocking the crossing for quite a while. It's gotten bad enough that Madison installed a blank-out sign at the intersection with Mill Road to the north to warn anyone heading south that a train was blocking Sullivan Street.

Another notable one includes Moulton Street in Decatur, AL (Google Maps Link), as it's at the north end of Oakworth Siding on the CSX S&NA North Subdivision, which also provides access to CSX's Oakworth Yard, so trains can often wind-up sitting on it for quite a while. It also isn't helped by the slow speeds trains have to go through there, thanks to the lift bridge across the Tennessee River. These issues also affect the nearby crossing on 2nd Street. However, between the two crossings is an overpass, so I believe most people just turn around and go for that instead.

[MikieTimT]

Whichever one I'm approaching...

[ZLoth]

I saw this on YouTube.... Higashi-Yodogawa Crossing in Japan.

[vdeane]

US 15 in Dillsburg and Shamokin Dam, both segments of at-grades on an otherwise free flowing route. CSVT project will address the latter.

There are trains crossing the road there?

[froggie]

From personal experience:  a double-whammy in Streator, IL, along IL 18.

Coming into town from the east, you first cross the BNSF Chillicothe Subdivision, a double-track racetrack.  Then, about 400ft later, you cross Norfolk Southern's Kankakee Branch.

When I passed through a couple years ago, I got caught by not one but two trains at the BNSF...after the first train passed, I noticed the gates stayed down which puzzled me at first, then a second train came roaring through.  Finally got to move after that but then after I crossed the NS crossing the gates for THAT crossing came down for a THIRD train that was waiting for the first two to clear the Streator Diamond (at-grade crossing of the BNSF and NS tracks just south of IL 18.  Those vehicles more than 2 behind me unfortunately got to wait for all three trains.

[webny99]

US 15 in Dillsburg and Shamokin Dam, both segments of at-grades on an otherwise free flowing route. CSVT project will address the latter.

There are trains crossing the road there?

Whoops. I totally misread the title, and thereby the entire concept of the thread, as referring to at-grade crossings.

[ErmineNotyours]

Spokane Street surface crossing.

I was walking by this crossing one day, passing a dock worker's party also attended by a manager and his wife who were better dressed.  As I was standing by waiting for switching trains to move, the manager and his wife approached the stationary train and climbed onto and through it.  They must be familiar with the neighborhood.  I might have waited a half hour before giving up and walking up Alaskan Way to Downtown Seattle rather than 1st Avenue as I had planned.

[roadman65]

US 90/301 in Baldwin, FL.

[TheCatalyst31]

Downtown Madison is an isthmus, and the Wisconsin Southern line through town crosses just about every major east-west road, so there are a lot of crossings that snarl traffic every time a train passes through during the day. The crossing at John Nolen and Wilson is the worst one, since the railway runs through the middle of an intersection that's pretty bad even without a train.

[SilverMustang2011]

US 90/301 in Baldwin, FL.

I think this one has been taken care of, as the newer 301 Bypass around Baldwin has an overpass over the railroad tracks for North/South traffic, and most East/West traffic is probably taking I-10 over US 90 for longer trips since they run parallel across FL. The bypass also got rid of another bottleneck in the city of Baldwin where US 301 has a pair of T-intersections and runs concurrent with US 90 for a few blocks.

[Dough4872]

The crossing on PA 413 at the CSX/SEPTA line in Langhorne, PA can get backed up, as traffic gets stopped when long freight trains pass and SEPTA trains stop at the nearby Langhorne station. The backups can be excaberated when multiple trains pass through the crossing close together.

[Dough4872]

US 15 in Dillsburg and Shamokin Dam, both segments of at-grades on an otherwise free flowing route. CSVT project will address the latter.

I don't think there's a railroad that crosses US 15 at-grade near Dillsburg.

[roadman65]

US 90/301 in Baldwin, FL.

I think this one has been taken care of, as the newer 301 Bypass around Baldwin has an overpass over the railroad tracks for North/South traffic, and most East/West traffic is probably taking I-10 over US 90 for longer trips since they run parallel across FL. The bypass also got rid of another bottleneck in the city of Baldwin where US 301 has a pair of T-intersections and runs concurrent with US 90 for a few blocks.

The new bypass is not US 301. The old routing is technically still US 301, and still gets long freights regardless you have other options.

[sprjus4]

US 15 in Dillsburg and Shamokin Dam, both segments of at-grades on an otherwise free flowing route. CSVT project will address the latter.

I don't think there's a railroad that crosses US 15 at-grade near Dillsburg.

US 15 in Dillsburg and Shamokin Dam, both segments of at-grades on an otherwise free flowing route. CSVT project will address the latter.

There are trains crossing the road there?

Whoops. I totally misread the title, and thereby the entire concept of the thread, as referring to at-grade crossings.

[Occidental Tourist]

This one in Utica, NY, though I suspect it does not get used much.