Annoying Rail Crossings that need to be grade separated

[ftballfan]

The US-31 railroad crossings in Manistee http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=44.259523,-86.313422&spn=0.008713,0.021136&t=h&z=16

And there's no easy way to fix these. Throw in a drawbridge a few blocks south of the southern crossing and you're in for a doozy (at least there can't be a train and a boat going through at the same time, as the train bridge across the river is a swing bridge). Also, these two at-grade railroad crossings are two of only four left on US-31 in Michigan (the other two are on the Holland Bypass)

[DandyDan]

More:

IL-59 in Bartlett, south of Stearns Road and north of Army Trail Road.

County Farm Road in Hanover Park, between Schick Road and Army Trail Road.

Gary Avenue just south of Army Trail Road, and Army Trail Road just west of Gary Avenue. This one gets the pleasure of slow moving freight trains blocking TWO major roads at the same time.

IIRC, those are all on the same rail line as the one on North Avenue (IL 64) in Addison.

[vtk]

(at least there can't be a train and a boat going through at the same time, as the train bridge across the river is a swing bridge)

Great, so you can get stuck waiting for a boat, then get stuck waiting for a train that was also waiting for the boat.

[FreewayDan]

Richey Road in north Harris County between the Hardy Toll Road and East Hardy Street:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Harris+County,+TX&hl=en&ll=29.996031,-95.394319&spn=0.002946,0.013078&sll=29.77749,-95.310516&sspn=0.833172,1.674042&gl=us&hnear=Harris,+Texas&t=m&z=17&layer=c&cbll=29.996032,-95.396367&panoid=3X9z17rfddDHxai71dtS4Q&cbp=11,32.77,,0,-0.43

There were plans to rebuild this area with Richey Road going over East Hardy, the railroad and Hardy Toll Road.  A connector road was also planned to connect East Hardy with Richey.  Sadly, those plans never reached beyond the drawing board.

[hobsini2]

There are a couple that come to mind in the Chicagoland area.

What do you think about LaGrange Rd at the BNSF line?

Hell, you could fill this thread with examples from the Chicago area easily.

La Grange Rd at the BNSF would certainly qualify as does several others in the other Downtown areas like that.

Main St Downers Grove, Cass Ave Westmont, Garfield St Hinsdale, Wolf Rd Western Springs, Maple Ave Brookfield, Main St Wheaton, Main St Glen Ellyn, St Charles Rd/Grace St Lombard, York Rd Elmhurst, Highland Ave Elgin, Kimball St Elgin, Irving Park Rd/Wood Dale Rd Wood Dale.

The list goes on and on and on.

[roadman65]

You know I was traveling FL 112 near Miami Airport.  The section where the carriageways are reversed has an at grade rail crossing that EB FL 112 again crosses above grade.  Sort of an over and at set up, you could say. Anyway, would you know a freight train came by, and not only was it long, but it was traveling slowly as well.

I do not know how that was allowed on a freeway extension built in 1990, but it is the main route (other than FL 836) to access the busy airport.  Because of this, you need to allow more time for the train in addition to long TSA lines leading to the gates, and you figure that would have been taken into consideration.

I am guessing it has to do with the runways of Miami International Airport, as this grade crossing is located near the end of them.  Of course, in Florida you cannot dig an underpass without water rising into it due to its low water table, so raising the FL 112 would be the option here where I think it would force airplanes to fly higher and have a shorter runway span.  I do not know, but nonetheless a bad place for a crossing.

[MASTERNC]

This crossing should be eliminated but it would take an epic rerouting of traffic for it to happen.  This is on VA 147 (Huguenot Road) in Chesterfield County, VA.  The RR crossing goes right through a major intersection.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Midlothian,+VA&hl=en&ll=37.52198,-77.61205&spn=0.004501,0.009645&sll=41.117935,-77.604698&sspn=4.377622,9.876709&t=h&hnear=Midlothian,+Chesterfield,+Virginia&z=17&layer=c&cbll=37.52198,-77.61205&panoid=R_JxBA7eczQRefsbKi2vOw&cbp=12,50.6,,0,1.6

[cpzilliacus]

This crossing should be eliminated but it would take an epic rerouting of traffic for it to happen.  This is on VA 147 (Huguenot Road) in Chesterfield County, VA.  The RR crossing goes right through a major intersection.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Midlothian,+VA&hl=en&ll=37.52198,-77.61205&spn=0.004501,0.009645&sll=41.117935,-77.604698&sspn=4.377622,9.876709&t=h&hnear=Midlothian,+Chesterfield,+Virginia&z=17&layer=c&cbll=37.52198,-77.61205&panoid=R_JxBA7eczQRefsbKi2vOw&cbp=12,50.6,,0,1.6

Here is a similar crossing (albeit with much lower traffic volumes most of the time) on U.S. 9/Del. 404 at Cool Springs Road in Milton (about 6 or 7 miles west of Lewes).

[D-Dey65]

Off-topic, but an oddity: http://goo.gl/maps/X7WQ0 

Is this being kept for nostalgic purposes or something like that? It reminds me of the crossing gates in New Port Richey, Florida that were put up despite the fact that the Seaboard Air Line left that city in World War II.

[SteveG1988]

The NJ approach to the burlington bristol bridge has a traffic circle bisected by the riverline train, not much you can do about it without redoing the bridge approach and toll booth arrangement.

http://goo.gl/maps/Sr9O7

[sandwalk]

I went to NIU in DeKalb, Illinois.  Downtown, where IL-38 and IL-23 intersect, the Union Pacific tracks run diagonally through that intersection.  Bottlenecks are guaranteed at least every hour.
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Lincoln+Highway+%26+4th+Street+DeKalb+Illinois&hl=en&ll=41.929573,-88.74912&spn=0.00243,0.003449&sll=41.929781,-88.750112&sspn=0.004893,0.010986&t=h&hnear=S+4th+St+%26+E+Lincoln+Hwy,+DeKalb,+Illinois+60115&z=18

[StogieGuy7]

The very busy EJE line crosses IL-120 - adjacent to its intersection with IL-83 - in Grayslake.  There are very few ways around this line, which carries very heavy rail traffic.  You can easily be stuck at this crossing for 15 to 20 minutes!  This has the effect of literally cutting Lake County in half for much of the time.  It's a traffic management nightmare that impacts anyone who lives on one side of the tracks and commutes to the other. 

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=IL+route+120+grayslake,+il&hl=en&ll=42.336572,-88.0318&spn=0.002847,0.004801&sll=42.339034,-88.049602&sspn=0.18221,0.307274&t=h&hnear=Illinois+120,+Grayslake,+Lake,+Illinois&z=18

[mgk920]

The very busy EJE line crosses IL-120 - adjacent to its intersection with IL-83 - in Grayslake.  There are very few ways around this line, which carries very heavy rail traffic.  You can easily be stuck at this crossing for 15 to 20 minutes!  This has the effect of literally cutting Lake County in half for much of the time.  It's a traffic management nightmare that impacts anyone who lives on one side of the tracks and commutes to the other. 

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=IL+route+120+grayslake,+il&hl=en&ll=42.336572,-88.0318&spn=0.002847,0.004801&sll=42.339034,-88.049602&sspn=0.18221,0.307274&t=h&hnear=Illinois+120,+Grayslake,+Lake,+Illinois&z=18

That's actually Canadian National's ex Wisconsin Central, nee SOO LINE Chicago-western Canada mainline, also a popular METRA commuter route.

Anyways, with events going on elsewhere, such as the non-construction of the 'Keystone' pipeline, look for rail traffic on that line to continue to mushroom (that line also passes through my home metro).  CN has been getting very aggressive about growing their business over the past couple of years, too.

Mike

[D-Dey65]

The NJ approach to the burlington bristol bridge has a traffic circle bisected by the riverline train, not much you can do about it without redoing the bridge approach and toll booth arrangement.

http://goo.gl/maps/Sr9O7

That's kind of odd, and from what I've read of the history of the River Line, this pre-dates the existence of New Jersey Transit. I wouldn't be surprised if it pre-dated the Pennsylvania Railroad's annexation of the Camden & Amboy Railroad.

OT, what's with the freaky at-grade interchanges with US 13 on the opposite side of the Delaware River?

[Molandfreak]

Off-topic, but an oddity: http://goo.gl/maps/X7WQ0 

Is this being kept for nostalgic purposes or something like that? It reminds me of the crossing gates in New Port Richey, Florida that were put up despite the fact that the Seaboard Air Line left that city in World War II.

Seems a bit odd to me, but I'll roll with the idea

[MDOTFanFB]

Sorry for bringing back up this month-old thread, but there's two railroad crossings in Woodhaven, MI, specifically Allen and Van Horn Roads, that both cross the same Canadian National (ex-Grand Trunk, nee Detroit, Toledo & Ironton's mainline) line that have to be grade-separated four two reasons:

• ...the largest retail center in the city is located just a mile to the north and...
• ...and since they're both very close to a massive yard and a rail junction in between the crossings, there's a lot of freight traffic in and out of that yard throughout much of the day moving at a speed that could get you stuck for just over a half hour in very rare cases, so much so that it literally slices Woodhaven in half for at least half of the day! 
  
  Also, both crossings block major routes for ambulances heading for Southshore Hospital in neighboring Trenton, which is the only Level 1 trauma center in the entire Downriver region, could you imagine someone pronounced dead because that ambulance had to wait 25 minutes for a freight train to clear? In fact, a couple years back there was even a derailment at one of those crossings! What I've just described was talked about several times in the local newspaper (the News-Herald).

http://goo.gl/maps/d6uNx and http://goo.gl/maps/ipXn3

[Super Mateo]

Yeah, Chicagoland has a ton of these, but I have two I'd like to add:

1.  Western Avenue/Dixie Highway, south of 139th Street.  Many long trains, slow moving, and will cost you a lot of time.  Worse yet, there are two crossings about a half mile apart, and it's possible to get trapped in between them, with no outlet to go around it.
2.  87th and Pulaski.  This is a Metra track and trains are short and they quickly go through.  The problem is that it goes diagonally right through the middle of the intersection.  To me, it's kind of scary to have to stop on the tracks to make a left turn.