State Highway-Rail 

Grade Crossing Action Plan 

01 December 2011 

Office of Utilities 

 Prepared with 

assistance from:
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

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Plan Document Development History 

Date Description

05/18/2011 Incomplete working draft Plan to FRA, GOHS, GOL for informal review & 

comment

06/24/2011 Submission of formal draft to FRA for review and comment, with copy to 

GOHS, GOL, and DDS.

06/27/2011

Draft Plan available on GDOT website for public review and comment through 

8/01/2011. Draft Plan is to remain on website after end of comment period 

through adoption of Final Plan.

09/20/2011 Informal FRA comments received

09/21/2011 Resubmission to FRA with very minor changes made during the 6/24/2011 to

9/12/2011 period minor revisions per 9/20/2011 informal FRA comments.

11/01/2011 Bar charts illustrating crash experience and Figure depicting corridor studies 

added to Plan 

11/25/2011 GDOT receives letter from FRA approving plan.

Dec 2011 Final Plan is expected to be placed on GDOT website.

Plan prepared by: Prepared with assistance from: 

Georgia Department of Transportation Moreland Altobelli Associates, Inc. 

Office of Utilities, Railroad Crossing Program 2211 Beaver Ruin Road, Suite 190 

One Georgia Center Norcross, GA 30071 

600 West Peachtree Street 770-263-5945 (D.M. Bearse, Technical Ld)

Atlanta, GA 30308 

404-631-1376 (Key Phillips, Program Mgr) 

Task Order No. 1, P.I. 0010129 

GDOT Contract Number: TOOOUDES110238 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

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Table of Contents 

(Click underlined text on this page in electronic version of document for hyperlinks to document sections) 

1.0 Introduction 

1.1 Plan Genesis 1 

1.2 Scope and Objective 2 

1.3 Georgia Railroad System 4 

2.0 Problem Identification 7 

2.1 Pedestrians 11 

2.2 Problem Solution Categorization 13 

3.0 Action Items Summary 14 

4.0 Education 

4.1 Increase Publicity and Awareness 15 

4.2 Georgia Department of Driver Services 16 

4.3 Driver Education 17 

5.0 Engineering 

5.1 Crossing Closures and Consolidations 17 

5.2 Grade Separations 18 

5.3 Active Warning Device Improvements 21 

5.4 Other Safety Improvements 23 

6.0 Enforcement 

6.1 Georgia Code 25 

6.2 Law Enforcement Training 25 

6.3 Law Enforcement Activity 25 

7.0 Data Analysis 

7.1 Inventory and Crash Data 26 

7.2 Programmatic Corridor Study and Improvements 28 

7.3 School Bus Use of Crossing Reporting 30 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

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(Click underlined text on this page in electronic version of document for hyperlinks to

Figures, Tables and Appendices) 

List of Figures 

Figure 1 Georgia Railroad System 3 

Figure 2 Georgia Motor Vehicle Crossing Crashes 1995-2010 7 

Figure 3 Georgia Public Crossings and 2006-2010 Crash Experience 10 

Figure 4 2006-2010 Georgia Public Crossings Crash Experience 10 

Figure 5 2006-2010 Georgia Multiple Crash Crossings Crash Experience 10 

Figure 6 Georgia Corridor Crossing Studies 29 

List of Tables

Table 1 2011 Georgia Public Crossings and 2006-2010 Public Crossing Crashes 8 

Table 2 2006-2010 Multiple Crash Crossings by Warning Device Category 9 

Table 3 NS and CSXT 2001-2010 Crashes by Railroad Segment 11 

Table 4 Summary of Action Items 13 

Table 5 Georgia’s Multiple Crash Locations 14 

Table 6 New Grade Separations 19 

Table 7 2005-2010 Multiple Crash Crossings Programmed for Gates 22 

Table 8 2005-2010 Multiple Crash Crossings for Diagnostic Analysis 22 

Appendices 

Appendix A 49 CFR Part 234, Grade Crossing Signal System Safety and State Action 

Plans; Subpart B, Reports and Plans; § 234.11 State highway-rail grade 

crossing action plans. Letter from FRA approving plan. 

Appendix B Selected Georgia Code 

Appendix C Public Comment 

Appendix D Georgia Amtrak Crossings 

Appendix E Georgia Crash Information 

Appendix F Instructions for Reporting School Bus Use of Highway-Railroad Crossings 

in Georgia (Revised 10/21/2011) 
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State Highway-Rail 

Grade Crossing Action Plan 

01 December 2011 

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Plan Genesis

Section 202 of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA08), Public 

Law 110-432 (H.R.2095 / S.1889), that was signed into law on 16 October 2008 required 

the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to identify the ten States with the most highway-rail 

grade crossing collisions, on average, over the past three years, and to require those 

States to develop State highway-rail grade crossing action plans. Section 202 further 

provided that these plans must identify specific solutions for improving safety at 

crossings, including highway-rail grade crossing closures or grade separations, and must 

focus on crossings that have experienced multiple collisions, or are at high risk for such 

collisions. 

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) (http://www.fra.dot.gov/) published a 

Final Rule in the 28 June 2010 Federal Register (Volume 75, No. 123) addressing the 

development, review, and approval of the State highway-rail grade crossing action plans 

required by the Rail Safety Improvement Act.1 The Rule includes the requirement that 

State highway-rail crossing action plans cover a five year time period. 

Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Ohio, 

and Texas were identified as the ten states with the most highway-rail grade crossing 

collisions in the 2006-2008 three calendar year period. The Georgia Department of 

Transportation (GDOT) (http://www.dot.state.ga.us/Pages/default.aspx) Office of 

Utilities, Railroad Safety Program, led and coordinated the preparation of this Plan to 

conform with the requirements of 49 CFR Part 234, Grade Crossing Signal System Safety 

and State Action Plans; Subpart B, Reports and Plans; § 234.11 State highway-rail grade 

crossing action plans. 

 

1

 Click underlined webpage addresses in electronic version of document for hyperlinks to webpages. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

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1.2 Scope and Objective

The regulatory requirement for the preparation of this State Highway-Rail Grade 

Crossing Safety Action Plan, hereinafter Plan, is based on Georgia 2006, 2007, and 2008 

train-road user collision data. Collision data from the broader and more current 2006-2010 

period were used in the development of this Plan. (Also, the use of five year collision 

experience in evaluating crossing collision risk is customary, and is the period GDOT weighs 

most heavily in prioritizing highway-rail crossing safety improvements.) This Plan, upon 

approval by FRA and adoption by GDOT, applies through 2017. 

The focus of the Plan is road user safety at highway-rail grade crossings where the 

general public road system and general railroad system intersect within Georgia. This Plan 

considers only highway-rail grade crossings located on the network of highways, roads and 

streets that constitute the general public highway system located within Georgia. It does not 

include the highway-rail grade crossings of privately owned roads or drives, although the 

general public may have access to and use such private crossings. It also does not include the 

highway-rail grade crossings of publicly owned roads that are not part of the general public 

highway network, such as crossings located within the secure areas of U.S. military 

installations, or crossings otherwise secured from use by the general public. Hereinafter 

references to a “crossing” or “crossings” refer to public highway-rail grade crossings as 

defined above, unless otherwise indicated. 

Crossing warning devices may be classified as passive or active warning devices. 

Passive warning devices typically consist of warning and regulatory signs and pavement 

markings. Hereinafter references to passive crossings should be understood to refer to 

crossings without any active warning devices. Active warning devices typically consist of 

automatic gates, and/or flashing lights, and bells.2

 Hereinafter references to “gates” or “gate 

crossing” or crossings should be understood to be crossings equipped with automatic gates, 

flashing lights and bell(s) active warning devices, and “flashers” or “flasher crossings” 

understood to refer to crossings equipped with automatic flashing lights and bell(s) only. 

The objective of this Plan is to identify specific solutions that will reduce collisions 

between trains or on-track equipment, and pedestrians or vehicles at crossings. Crash is a 

widely used within the traffic engineering field that refers to collisions, accidents or wrecks. 

The term crash hereinafter should be understood to refer to such incidents. 

Crossing closures and grade separations are integral to this Plan because they greatly 

reduce, or in the case of grade separations, eliminate crashes.3 The Plan will also focus on 

crossings with a history of multiple crashes or otherwise have risk factors associated with 

multiple crash crossings. The Rail Safety Improvement Act recognized that such crossings 

account for a disproportionately high fraction of crashes, and thus focus on such crossings 

offer a great opportunity to reduce the total numbers of crashes. Multiple crash crossings 

hereinafter generally refer to crossings that have experienced more than one crash in the 

2006-2010 period. 

 

2

 Actuated signs such as a “No Left Turn” sign actuated in connection with pre-emption, an 

interconnection between active warning devices at a crossing and a nearby intersection signal, though 

regulatory in nature, may be considered to be active warning devices. 

3

 Rerouting of traffic from a closed crossing to another crossing does not completely eliminate crash risk 

associated with the closed crossing. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

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Figure 1 Georgia Railroad System 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

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1.3 Georgia Railroad System

The general railroad system in Georgia consists of the networks of Class I 

railroads CSX Transportation (CSXT) (http://www.csx.com/) and Norfolk Southern (NS) 

(http://www.nscorp.com/), and 24 Class III railroads that collectively operate 

approximately three dozen branch line segments. Short line railroad is an informal term 

applied to small railroad companies operating over relatively short distances that have 

much smaller gross revenue than Class I railroads. Georgia’s Class III railroads conform 

to this informal definition.

4

 Hereinafter Georgia railroads, exclusive of CSXT, NS and 

Amtrak, collectively may be referred to as short 

lines. The Georgia Railroad System is depicted in 

Figure 1 on the preceding page.

The 1,676 route mile CSXT and 1,778 route mile NS Georgia railroad networks 

generally extend throughout Georgia.5 CSXT, because of its larger presence in Florida, 

has greater through traffic and generally higher average train traffic density on its 

Georgia network than NS.6

CSXT and NS each operate a pair of major trunk lines that cross in Atlanta. One 

each of the CSXT and NS trunk lines through Atlanta broadly parallel Interstate 75 (I-75) 

through Georgia. They also each operate a trunk line that generally parallels Interstate 85 

northeast of Atlanta with the CSXT trunk line paralleling Interstate 85 (I-85) southwest 

of Atlanta, and the NS trunk line paralleling Interstate 20 (I-20) west of Atlanta.7

Both NS and CSXT railroads have been constructing additional capacity in the 

form of second main track, and new and extended passing sidings on these trunk lines. 

The NS I-85 northeast/ I-20 west trunk line is part of NS’ Crescent Corridor, a 

national-scale $2 billion public-private partnership (NS, USDOT, various states and 

localities) to improve railroad transportation between the northern mid-Atlantic and the 

central southeastern regions of the United States.8

 

4

 “Class” followed by an Arabic number refers to a standard of track, while “Class” followed by Roman 

numerals refers to the size of a railroad based on operating revenue. Class I railroads are defined by the 

Surface Transportation Board as those with $401.4 million in operating revenue. Amtrak is a Class I 

railroad, but does not own any of the 316 route miles over which it operates within Georgia. No Class II 

railroads currently operate within Georgia. Class III railroads are those with $32.1 million or less in 

operating revenue. The Louisville and Wadley Railroad (L&W) has not operated its 10 mile track in 

many years, and is not included herein as one of the 24 Georgia Class III railroads. 

5

 Revised from 1,908 NS miles reported in the 2009 State Rail Plan to 1,778 miles per Georgia Railroads 

Association website. (Independent tabulation of NS route miles consists of 1,510 Georgia Division route 

miles, including approximately 50 miles of major lead tracks + 286 other Division routes miles = 1,796 

route miles.) Independent rudimentary calculation is 1,583 CSXT route miles in Georgia. 

6

 The 2009 State Rail Plan (SRP) reported approximately one-half of the total rail tonnage in Georgia is 

through traffic. Georgia is a net destination state for rail traffic, largely because of coal traffic to power 

plants. 

7

 CSXT and NS apply various names to their various corridors. This description associates them with 

interstates that are more familiar to those outside of the railroad industry. 

8

 The Crescent Corridor is network corridor of more than a single route. A small segment of a second 

Crescent Corridor route is located in Dade County, Georgia’s most northwestern county. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

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Other notable Class I trunk lines experiencing or subject to construction of 

additional capacity in Georgia include the CSXT lines along the Atlantic Coast generally 

paralleling Interstate 95 (I-95); the CSXT line between Manchester and Birmingham, AL, 

an important intermodal route between Florida and the Midwest route that connects to the 

CSXT I-75 corridor; and the NS Macon-Savannah line serving intermodal traffic to and 

from the Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City Terminal in Savannah, the third largest 

international container traffic port in the United States. 

CSXT and NS both operate a number of secondary trunk lines in Georgia, and 

relatively little in the way of light or very light density lines.9 Maximum freight train 

speeds on Georgia Class I railroad trunk lines, exclusive of speed restrictions, is

typically 60 miles per hour (mph) for intermodal trains, and 50 mph for other freight 

trains.10 Maximum freight train speeds on Georgia Class I railraod secondary lines are 

generally 25-40 mph. 

Twenty-four Georgia short lines collectively operate over 1,200 route miles, 

including nearly 400 route miles leased by owner GDOT to various short lines.11 Most of 

Georgia’s short line route miles are located in southwest Georgia, or in the southeast 

central Georgia quadrangle bounded by Macon, Augusta, Savannah and Cordele. The 

large majority of the Georgia short line network consists of light (<5 mega gross tons, 

MGT) or very light (<1 MGT) traffic lines.12 The majority of Georgia’s current short line 

trackage was divested by CSXT and NS in the late 1980’s and 1990’s. Georgia short line 

main track is generally Class 2 (25 mph maximum freight speed) track, though some 

short lines operate Class 1 (10 mph maximum freight speed) main track.4

1.3.1 Passenger Service 

Georgia intercity passenger service currently consists of eight daily Amtrak trains 

operating on CSXT along the Atlantic Ocean coast (Silver Service, Palmetto, and Auto 

Train), and one pair of Amtrak trains (Crescent) operating between New York and New 

Orleans via Washington and Atlanta.13

 The latter pair of trains operate on NS’ Crescent 

 

9

 The 2009 State Rail Plan identified 31% of NS and 15% of CSXT route miles as light density lines. 

10 Unit auto carrier trains may be operated as intermodal trains. Intermodal trains may operate at up to 

70mph on portions of the CSXT A-Line, the only line in Georgia where freight trains may operate in 

excess of 60mph. 

11 The 39 GDOT-owned route miles of the western Preston-Omaha portion of the HOG, and the 17 route 

miles of the NS-owned ABR between Bishop and Madison are not included because these segments have 

not been operated in many years. The 27 miles between Shady Dale and Covington last operated by 

GRWR, and the 17 miles between Chattanooga and Hedges, last operated by CCKY, are not included 

because these segments have been inactive for over a year. The latter two segments are owned by NS. 

12 The Sandersville Railroad, and perhaps a small segment of the HOG, are likely the only Georgia short 

lines with traffic greater than 5MGT. 

13 Amtrak Trains 89 and 90 (Palmetto) terminate and originate in Savannah and operate within Georgia 

only on the 12 miles of the A-Line (former Atlantic Coast Railroad) north of the Savannah Amtrak 

station. Amtrak Trains 91 and 92 (Silver Star) operate on the CSXT S-Line (former Seaboard Air Line 

Railroad) north of Savannah, and the A-Line south of Savannah. The other four trains operate on the 

A-Line within Georgia. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

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Corridor within Georgia. These 79 mph passenger routes are the only railroad lines 

within Georgia where trains operate in excess of 60 mph.14

Commuter service between Macon and Atlanta, and Athens and Atlanta, was 

under active development in the first few years of the 21st century.15 Grade crossing 

safety was given great attention in the commuter service planning, and would receive 

great attention in the event of the active resumption of planning activity. 16,17

The SAM Shortline, operated by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources 

under the guidance of the Southwest Georgia Railroad Excursion Authority, operates 

approximately 140 excursion trains annually over a 34 mile route between Cordele and 

Plains in southwest Georgia on the Heart of Georgia (HOG) Railroad.18

 The Blue Ridge 

Scenic Railway operates approximately 240 excursion trains annually in Fannin County 

on the 13 mile portion of the Georgia Northeastern Railroad (GNRR) between Blue 

Ridge, and McCaysville on the Tennessee border. The Tennessee Valley Railway 

Museum operates about two dozen excursion trains annually on the Chattooga and 

Chickamauga Railway (CCKY) in northwestern Georgia. All three of these excursion 

services operate on GDOT-owned railroad lines. 

There are three federally designated Southeast high speed rail (HSR) corridors in 

Georgia. One of the corridors is the NS Crescent Corridor. Another is on CSXT along 

the Atlantic Coast. The third Atlanta-Macon-Jesup HSR corridor on NS connects the 

other two HSR corridors. A Chattanooga-Atlanta High Speed Ground 

Transportation (HSGT) study is currently underway. 

Any Georgia implementation of HSR passenger service would not occur until 

after the 2017 period of this Plan. As with commuter rail, grade crossing safety (if even 

applicable) would receives great attention in the HSR planning process. More 

information on the characteristics of the Georgia railroad network and HSR is available 

in the 2009 State Rail Plan. 

(http://www.dot.state.ga.us/travelingingeorgia/rail/Documents/StateRailPlan2009.pdf)

 

14 There are numerous permanent speed restrictions along the Amtrak-used lines, particularly on the NS 

lines. Freight trains may operate at up to 70mph on the CSXT A-Line passenger route. 

15 Development was progressed to FTA issuing Findings of No Significant Impact in the first half of the 

last decade. 

16 It is very unlikely that new Athens-Atlanta or Griffin-Atlanta commuter service will be implemented 

during the 2012-2017 period of this Plan. $20,000,000 in funding to further plan new Griffin-Atlanta 

commuter service however is included in the final 15 Oct 2011 list of projects to be funded by a 

proposed new ten year Atlanta regional 1% sales tax that will fund transportation projects, Transportation 

Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, or T-SPLOST. 

17 The Georgia Transportation Investment Act of 2010 provides a mechanism by which regions statewide 

each have the ability to impose a 1% sales tax to fund transportation projects within the region. TSPLOST referenda currently will be submitted for approval to the electorate of each of the 12 regions of 

the state on 31 July 2012.

18 SAM derives its name from Savannah, Americus and Montgomery Railroad, a HOG predecessor railroad 

over which SAM trains operate. 
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2.0 Problem Identification

Crossing crashes have decreased dramatically since the advent of the federal aid 

crossing safety program of Title 23, United States Code, Chapter 1, Section 130 

(23 USC § 130), commonly and hereinafter referred to as the Section 130 Program. 

Crashes have decreased despite significant increases in highway and railroad traffic. The 

Section 130 Program funds hazard elimination at crossings, typically but not limited to 

installation of active warning devices. 

Nationally there were 10,973 motor vehicle crashes resulting in 786 fatalities and 

3,596 personal injuries at public crossings in 1975. Those numbers decreased to 1,559 

crashes, 135 fatalities and 638 injuries in 2010. The rate of decrease was greatest in the 

late 1970’s through 1998, and flattened during the 1999-2006 period. The number of 

crashes began to decline at a greater rate in the 2007, perhaps reflecting at least in part 

diminished economic activity resulting in less highway and train traffic.

Figure 2 Georgia Motor Vehicle Crossing Crashes 1995-2010 

Nat’l / 20 is number of crashes nationally divided by 20. National crashes have been divided 

by 20 simply to place the resulting quotient on a scale similar in magnitude to the number of 

Georgia crashes for the purpose of comparing trends. (The 2003 spike in injuries coinciding 

with a dip in crashes was the result of an Amtrak crash that resulted in 25 passenger injuries.) 

Source: FRA (http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/officeofsafety/publicsite/Query/gxrtab.aspx) 

There were 345 Georgia motor vehicle crashes resulting in 23 fatalities and 

130 injuries at public crossings in 1975. There were 59 Georgia crashes resulting in four 

fatalities and 23 injuries in 2010.19

 Figure 2 depicts the numbers of national and Georgia 

crashes, and Georgia casualties the 1995-2010 period. Georgia experienced one fatality 

 

19 There have been one pedestrian and 38 motor vehicle crashes at Georgia public crossings that have 

resulted in 15 personal injuries in 2011 through June. The pedestrian crash and 24 of the vehicular 

crashes occurred at active crossings, and 14 crashes occurred at passive crossings. At this rate there will 

be 76 motor vehicle crashes in 2011, more than the 59 crashes in 2010, Georgia’s best year, but fewer 

than the 83 in Georgia’s second best year 2008. One of the passive crossings experiencing a 2011 crash 

has since been closed, and another has been equipped with gates. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

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for every 13 motor vehicle crashes (7.7%), and one casualty for nearly every third crash 

(32%) that occurred at public crossings in the 1995-2010 period.20 These fractions have 

been rather constant throughout that period. 

Georgia’s reduction in crashes since 1975 has tended to lag the reduction 

nationally, a circumstance explained in part by the fact that Georgia’s population and 

hence traffic growth have since 1975 substantilly exceeded national averages. Georgia 

has of late has closed the gap to near-parity with the nation for the 1975-2010 period. 

This was due in part to a slight uptick in crashes nationally in 2010, while Georgia has 

had improvement generally exceeding the national average since 2004, including one of 

its best years of improvement that resulted in its best year ever in 2010. 

The decrease in the number of Georgia crashes since 2004 invites new and 

re-invigorated efforts to sustain if not improve upon the rate of decrease in the numbers 

of Georgia crashes and casualties. Georgia, a state with large numbers of crossings and 

crashes, is positioned to significantly contribute to reductions in crashes and casualities 

nationally. 

The numbers of 2011 Georgia public crossings and route miles by CSXT, NS, 

Amtrak and short lines are detailed in Table 1. Table 1 also details 2006-2010 period 

crash experience by warning device category; passive, flashers, or gates. 

Table 1 2011 Georgia Public Crossings and 2006-2010 Public Crossing Crashes 1

Railroad

2011 Crossings and 2006-2010 Crossing Crashes

Route

Miles Passive Flashers Gates Totals

Xings Crashes Xings Crashes Xings Crashes Xings Crashes

CSXT 635 67 85 24 821 113 1,541 204 1,676

Amtrak (CSXT) 19 1 1 58 3 78 4 157

NS 1,135 79 106 34 916 84 2,157 197 1,778

Amtrak (NS) 7 1 116 3 123 4 159

Short lines 1,273 25 67 8 305 6 1,645 39 1,223

Totals 3,043 173 258 66 2,042 209 5,343 448 4,677

% of Total 57% 39% 5% 15% 38% 47%

Source for number of crossings: FRA website Railroad Safety/Safety Data, 8.06, FRA Public Crossing Inventory By State 

1 Motor vehicle crashes. The table includes some crossings that are officially open but for practical purposes are closed crossings. 

Also, there are a number of crossings within Georgia that are functionally one crossing but are counted as two crossings because 

there are separate USDOT IDs applied to the adjacent track(s) of each railroad at the crossing. 

2 Crashes have been assigned to the maintenance railroad when the maintenance railroad is an operating railroad. 

3 Consists of all crossings other than gate or flasher crossings, and therefore includes a few crossings with extraordinary active 

warning devices such as bell-only crossings. 

4 includes 13 four quadrant gate crossings. 

5 Amtrak route miles and crossings are for information only. Amtrak route miles and crossings are included within CSXT and NS 

route miles and crossings. CSXT Amtrak route miles consists of 126 A-Line routes miles with with 43 gates and 14 crossbuck 

crossings, of which seven are gate crossings located on the 11.6 route-miles north of Central Jct in Savannah, and 31 S-Line 

route miles wti 15 gate, one flasher and five crossbuck crossings. 

6 Short line route miles, including route miles owned by a NS but last operated by a short line, exclude approximately 100 route 

miles of track that have not been operated for a year of more. The table includes the approximately 96 crossings on this 100 

miles of track, approximately 18 of which are equipped with gates, two with flashers, and 80 are passive crossings. See 

footnote 11 . 

 

20 It should be understood that the percentages of crashes involving a casualty are slightly smaller 

percentages than those indicated because some casualty crashes involve multiple casualties, and because 

casualty crashes involving both personal injury and fatalities are classified as fatality crashes.. 
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Approximately 43% of the approximately 5,343 total public grade crossings 

within Georgia are equipped with active warning devices.21 Approximately 59% of the 

1.541 CSXT crossings, and 47% of the 2,195 NS crossings are equipped with active 

warning devices. The higher fraction of CSXT crossings equipped with active warning 

devices reflects the generally higher density train traffic on the CSXT network in 

Georgia. 

Approximately 23% of shortline public crossings are equipped with active 

warning devices. Flasher crossings constitute 18% of the shortline active warning device 

crossings, 60% more than the 11% of Class I railroad crossings. This is a result of older 

active warning device installations that occurred when there were higher traffic volumes 

on the lines prior to NS and CSXT disvestiture of light density lines in the late 1980’s 

and 1990’s, at a time when flashers were more commonly installed than at present. 

Sixty-one percent of the 448 Georgia public crossing crashes in the 2006-2010 

period occurred at active warning device crossings. Flashing light crossings account for 

five percent of total crossings, and approximately 11% of the active warning device 

crossings (258 of 2,300), but account for approximately 15% of the total crashes, and 

24% of the active warning device crossing crashes (66 of 275). 

Table 2 2006-2010 Multiple Crash Public Crossings By Warning Device Category 1

Railroad 2

2011 Public Grade Crossings and 2006-2010 Multiple Crash Crossings

Passive 3Flashers Gates 4Totals

Xings Crashes Xings Crashes Xings Crashes Xings Crashes

CSXT 635 11 85 14 821 55 1,541 80

Amtrak (CSX) 19 1 58 3 78 3

NS 1,135 27 106 19 916 29 2,157 75

Amtrak (NS) 7 1 116 2 123 3

Short lines 1,273 4 67 4 305 2 1,645 10

Totals 3,043 43 258 37 2,042 91 5,343 171

% of Total 57% 25% 5% 22% 38% 53%

See Table 1 for table notes. 

The numbers of 2006-2010 period multiple crash public crossing crashes by 

CSXT, NS, Amtrak and short lines by type of warning device are detailed in Table 2. 

Multiple crash crossing crashes are substantially more likely to occur at active warning 

device crossings than passive crossings. One-quarter of all crashes at passive crossings 

occur at multipe crash crossings, while nearly twice as many, 46%, of all crashes at active 

warning device crossings occur at multiple crash crossings. There were no crashes at 

90% of all active warning device crossings, and only one crash at 7.2% of active warning 

device crossings in the 2006-2010 period. There were no crashes at 95% of all passive 

crossings, and only one crash at 4.3% of passive crossings in the same period. The 

numbers of crossings and crash information of Tables 1 and 2 are depcited in bar chart 

form in Figures 3, 4 and 5. 

 

21

 See Table 1 note 6 and footnote 11 for additional detail concerning number of crossings. 
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Figure 3 Georgia Public Crossings 

Figure 4 2006-2010 Georgia Crossing Crashes 

Figure 5 2006-2010 Georgia Multiple Crash Crossing Crashes 

Note: Amtrak crashes are included in host railroad CSXT or NS crash totals in Figures 3, 4 and 5. 

1,541

2,157

1,645

208 201

39

10

78

83
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Table 3 identifies the numbers of crashes at active and passive public crossings by 

NS and CSXT railroad segments. It includes Amtrak crashes that occurred on the NS and 

CSXT networks. (See Appendices E-2 and E-3 for short line crash information.) A 

general comparison of crashes at the Class I railroad segment level may be distorted by 

especially poor crash experience at one or two crossings, and thus misrepresent typical 

crossing crash experience on the segment. For instance, eleven crashes at one CSXT 

A&WP Subdivision flasher crossing over a few year period that included portions of the 

2001-2005 and 2006-2010 periods inflates the crash experience of typical crossings of the 

segment in comparison to other segments. (There have not been any additional crashes at 

that A&WP Subidivision crossing since gates were installed.) GDOT anticipates 

performing additional crash analysis as described in Section 7.1 in further pinpointing 

particular problem segments. 

2.1 Pedestrians

Pedestrians may be struck by or collide with trains or on-track equipment at 

crossings. There have been between one and five Georgia pedestrian incidents at public 

crossings each year, and an average of 2.8 pedestrian incidents annually, during the 

1995-2010 period.22

 The relatively constant number of incidents is a nominal decrease in 

the rate of occurance given increased population and train traffic over the 1995-2010 

period. Pedestrian incidents, while rather constant in absolute terms, are increasing as a 

fraction of total incidents because of the decline in motor vehicle crashes. Pedestrian 

incidents accounted for a five year rolling average of 2.2% of total incidents in 1999, and 

for 3.1% in 2010.23

There were 25 Georgia fatalities and 16 personal injuries resulting from the 

45 pedestrian incidents at public crossings in the 1995-2010 period. Pedestrian fatalities 

constituted 15% of the total crash fatalities in the 1995-2010 period. 

Two-thirds of pedestrains involved in incidents at grade crossings in the 

2001-2010 period were male, less than the 78% of drivers involved in crossing crashes 

that were male. While the number of vehicular crashes generally decreases with 

increasing driver age, the ages of pedestrians involved in crossing incidents approximates 

a normal distribution about a late 40’s age. (See Appendix E-1 for driver and pedestrain 

age and gender information.) 

2.2 Problem Solutions Categorization

Crashes are a safety concern largely associated with crossing hazard and road 

user’s poor judgment. Hazards may be remediated by increasing hazard awareness and 

fostering better judgment, and implementing physical changes that reduce physical 

hazards. The multi-disciplinary three E’s of safety; education, engineering and 

enforcement that have long been applied to improve crossing safety are central to 

reducing crashes. 

 

22 Between one and five is inclusive meaning, one, two three four or five incidents per year. 

23 A rolling average is used to better convey overall trend because of the relatively small number of 

incidents and in a given year, and the high relative variability of number of crashes from year to year. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

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Table 3 NS and CSXT 2001-2010 Crashes by Railroad Segment

1 NS districts or CSXT subdivisions were divided into smaller segments where lengths 

exceeded 120 miles, or generally where there is a distinct change in train traffic volumes. 

2 The CSXT Atlanta Terminal Subdivsion was disaggregated to the A&WP, Abbeville, 

Georgia, Manchester and W&A Subdivisions from which the subdivision was created. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

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2.2 Problem Solutions Categorization

Crashes are a safety concern largely associated with crossing hazard and road user’s 

poor judgment. Hazards may be remediated by increasing hazard awareness and fostering 

better judgment, and implementing physical changes that reduce physical hazards. The 

multi-disciplinary three E’s of safety; education, engineering and enforcement that have long 

been applied to improve crossing safety are central to reducing crashes. 

Education must be an important element of the Plan. Activation failures, the term 

applied to the circumstance wherein an active crossing warning system fails to indicate the 

approach of a train at least 20 seconds prior to the train’s arrival at the crossing, or fails to 

indicate the presence of a train occupying the crossing, is a very uncommon occurrence. As 

previously mentioned, 61% all Georgia crashes in the 2006-2010 period occurred at crossings 

equipped with active warning devices. These crashes typically resulted from poor judgment 

on the part of road users, and/or willful disregard of an active warning, circumstances that 

additional and better education can remediate.

Education and enforcement complement each other.24 Law enforcement disciplinary 

actions applied to road users change driver behavior by reinforcing education and improving 

judgment on one hand, and deterring willful disregard of active warning devices on the other.

Engineering develops and determines the most cost effective infrastructure to reduce 

or eliminate crossing hazards, and prioritizes the application of limited resources to maximize 

safety benefits. Gates are installed at approximately three dozen Georgia crossings each 

year, including improvement from flashers to gates at some crossings.25

 Statewide there are 

3,043 passive and 258 flasher public crossing candidates to consider for installation of gates. 

There are other active warning device improvements to consider as well, such as improved 

control equipment, new or improved pre-emption, and flashing light unit improvements.26

There are a number of passive warning devices beyond the general basic passive 

advance warning and crossing warning devices mandated by the Manual on Uniform Traffic 

Control Devices (MUTCD) (http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/kno_2009.htm). The identification of 

extraordinary hazards, and the judicious application of special circumstance passive warning 

devices, is another element of Engineering. 

Beyond the three E’s, it is important to measure and monitor progress to insure goals 

and objectives are met in an efficient and cost effective manner. Measurement and analysis 

are necessary to improve hazard elimination strategies, as well as develop and evaluate new 

strategies and measures to reduce crashes. Measurement requires data. The fourth principal 

action item category of this Plan is thus data and data analysis. 

 

24 There is also an education element applicable to law enforcement personnel understanding both the law 

and the adverse consequence to road user non-compliance. 

25 Georgia standards do not preclude new flasher installations, but as a practical matter new installations of 

flashers are rare in Georgia. The majority of the three dozen annual gate installations are funded by the 

Section 130 Program. 

26

 Pre-emption is the transfer of normal operation of highway intersection signals to a special control 

mode. As applied to railroad crossings, the purpose of pre-emption is to control signals so as to allow 

highway traffic to move clear of a crossing, or prevent highway traffic from occupying a crossing, upon 

approach of a train. Flashing light unit improvements typically consist of upgrading from 8 inch to 12 

inch flashing light units and/or upgrading from incandescent to LED illumination. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

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3.0 Action Items Summary

The objective of this Plan is to identify specific solutions that will reduce 

collisions between trains or on-track equipment, and pedestrians or vehicles at crossings. 

The three E’s of safety, education, engineering and enforcement, were discussed in the 

foregoing section. Table 4 summarizes and categorized Plan action items as one of the 

three E’s, or a fourth category, data and data analysis. 

Table 4 Summary of Action Items 

No. 1 Action Item Organizations

(other than GDOT)

Duration

Completion 2

4.0 Education

4.1 Increase Publicity and Awareness

GA Operation Lifesaver

(GOL), Gov’s Office of Hwy

Safety (GOHS), Railroads

Ongoing, 

quarterly and 

annual meetings 

4.1 Publicity materials GOHS, GOL, Railroads via 

Georgia Railroad Association Periodically

4.2

Review and update as necessary 

Driver’s, CDL, and Motorcycle Operator’s 

Manuals, and Teen/Parent Driving Guide

crossing elements. Review and update 

as necessary DUI / defensive driving 

school crossing elements.

GA Dept of Driver Svcs

(DDS), GOL

Dates of next 

publication of 

manuals and 

guides, and 

school regulation update

4.3 Continuing Driver Education

GOL, DDS, Georgia Motor 

Trucking Ass’n (GMTA), 

Georgia Ass’n for Pupil 

Transportation (GAPT)

Ongoing

5.0 Engineering

5.1 Leverage Section 130 funds to promote 

crossing closures and consolidations Local governments Ongoing

5.2 New Grade Separations Local governments Ongoing

5.3 Active Warning Device Improvements Local governments Ongoing

5.4 Other Warning Device Improvements Local governments Ongoing

6.0 Enforcement

6.1 Georgia Code change Georgia General 

Assembly, Governor Indefinite

6.2 Law Enforcement Training GOL Ongoing

6.3 Law Enforcement Activity

Georgia State Patrol, local 

governments / local law 

enforcement agencies

Ongoing

7.0 Data Analysis

7.1 Inventory and crash data Railroads Ongoing

7.2 Programmatic Corridor Study and 

Corridor Improvements

Railroads, Local 

governments Ongoing

7.3 School Bus Use of Crossing Reporting School districts Ongoing

1 The number is that of the action item section within the Plan document. 

2 Ongoing refers to activities through the end of the 2017 Plan period, and indicates activities to be continued beyond the 

end of the Plan period. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

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4.0 Education 4.1 Increase Publicity and Awareness

GDOT will assist in the development of subject matter to be shared with print and 

broadcast media, and local governments, to increase awareness of crossing hazards in 

general, and multiple crash or high risk crossings in particular. Table 5, consisting of the 

seventeen gate crossings that have experienced three of more crashes in the 2005-2010 

period, exemplifies such subject matter.27

 The 64 multiple crash crossing crashes in the 

2005-2010 period at the crossings identified in Table 5 represent to 11% of all crashes, and

one-quarter of all crashes at gate crossings, that occurred statewide during that period.

Table 5 Georgia’s Multiple Crash Locations 

(Crossings equipped with gates at the time of crash that have experienced the most crashes)

County 

(City)

Road Name USDOT 

ID

2005-2010 

Crashes Comment

Gwinnett Jones Mill Rd 1916933L 6

1 Three 2010 crashes. Located adjacent 

to Buford Hwy south of Norcross. 

(Marietta) Whitlock Ave 340388B 6

2 SR120, 2008 fatality and 2007 

pedestrian personal injury crashes

(Buford) Church Street 717824J 5 2005 double fatality crash 

Bartow Sandtown Rd 340426H 5

Located southeast of Emerson, 

Crossing situated on reverse curve

DeKalb Turner Hill Rd 279681D 4 SR124, 2008 fatality crash

Cobb White Circle 340400F 4 Located north of Marietta

(Marietta) Waverly Way 340387U 4 Next crossing south of Whitlock Ave

Chatham

(Garden City)

3

Borne Ave 

(SR307) 632473Y 3

4

Quadruple fatality, and 2 single fatality 

crashes, 2 of which were Amtrak 

crashes, during of 22 days in Oct 2007

(Locust Grove) Peeksville Rd 718425B 3 2007 and 2008 fatality crashes

Douglas Sweetwater 

Road 726570V 3

2009 Amtrak crash, and a fatality crash 

nine days later (Lithia Springs locale)

(Douglasville) Rose Avenue 726590G 3 2009 Amtrak crash

(Sugar Hill) Lanier Avenue 717828L 3 2009 Amtrak crash 

Barrow Johns-Manville Rd 640133H 3 Two of three involved pickup truck

(Atlanta) Sylvan Road 718082W 3 Two 2009 crashes

Gordon Hill City Road 719730P 3 Crossing situated on reverse curve

(Conyers) Rockbridge Rd 279669W 3

Two crashes involving

tractor-trailers stuck on crossing

(Douglasville) Brown Street 726586S 3

5 One crash was an auto driven off side 

of crossing and stuck

17 Crossings 

12 fatalities and one personal injury 64 of 567 total crashes, and of 259

gated crossing crashes statewide

1 Placed ahead of Whitlock Ave with 6 crashes, two of which had casualties, because of a 12 Jan 2011 crash that is not 

included among the six 2005-2010 crashes. 

2 The six 2005-2010 crashes do not include a 2007 pedestrian fatality crash. 

3 The railroad is the Garden City municipal limit. 

4 The three crashes do not include a 01 July 2011 crash. 

5 The 726586S crossing is to be closed, along with 2 adjacent grade crossings, and replaced with a grade separation (See Table 6).

 

27 Note a six year instead of five year period. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

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GDOT will consult with Georgia Railroads, Georgia Operation Lifesaver (GOL) 

(http://georgiaol.org/), and the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) 

(http://www.gahighwaysafety.org/) in preparing such materials.28 Future materials may 

be based on various other criteria than that used for Table 5, such as passive crossings 

with multiple crashes, crossings experiencing tractor-trailer crashes, or a geographic 

focus within Georgia. GOL and GOHS will use the materials as appropriate in 

presentations and activities. GDOT will furnish the list to the local governments 

associated with the materials as applicable. 

GOHS will add a link on the GOHS home page to the Georgia GOL home page, 

and GOHS will add a link to the FRA Office of Safety webpage 

(http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/officeofsafety/) to the GOHS Questions and Answers 

webpage that addresses the question concerning sources of statistics and data. 

4.2 Georgia Department of Drivers Services

The Georgia Department of Driver Services (DDS) (http://www.dds.ga.gov/) 

produces four publications for Georgia Motor Vehicle operators: 

Commercial Driver’s Manual (CDL), current edition 2009, 

http://www.dds.ga.gov/docs/forms/CDL_Drivers_Manual_4_17_09.pdf, next 

revision tentatively late 2011 or 2012 

Parent/Teen Driving Guide, current edition July 1, 2010, 

http://www.dds.ga.gov/docs/forms/40Hour_ParentTeen_DrivingGuide.pdf, next 

revision tentatively 2012 

2010 Drivers Manual, current edition 2010, 

http://www.dds.ga.gov/docs/forms/FullDriversManual.pdf, next revision 

tentatively late 2011 

Motorcycle Operators Manual, current edition 2009, 

http://www.dds.ga.gov/docs/forms/MotorManual.pdf, next revision tentatively 2012

The DDS publications will be reviewed for crossing content by GDOT, GOL and 

others, and revised as necessary in conjunction with their next periodic updates. (The 

process of GDOT offering suggestions for consideration is already underway for the CDL 

Manual that is currently in the process of being revised.29) One change for consideration 

in one or manuals is the inclusion of a brief explanation of Emergency Notification 

Signs (ENS) at crossings. Road users may be directed to first call the telephone number 

on the sign, and then call 911, in situations where stopping trains that may be 

approaching the crossing is absolutely the most important immediate reporting action that 

should be taken. 

 

28 GOL is the Georgia unit of Operation Lifesaver, Inc (OLI). OLI, founded in 1972, is a non-profit 

organization providing public education programs to prevent collisions, injuries and fatalities on and 

around railroad tracks and crossings. The GOHS mission is to educate the public on traffic safety and 

facilitate the implementation of programs that reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities on Georgia roadways.

29 GDOT suggestions included changes reflective of 2009 MUTCD changes that require yield or stop signs 

at passive crossings.
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

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DDS sets the standards for basic Driver Education Programs, and sets standards 

for and approves Driving Under the Influence (DUI) and Defensive Driving Schools in 

Georgia. Driver attendance of courses at such schools may be required in connection 

with motor vehicle infractions. Other drivers may attend at the behest of their employers, 

or to qualify for motor vehicle insurance discounts. GOL will make crossing safety 

presentations at both public and private Driving Schools. DDS will review crossing 

content standards, and revise standards as appropriate. 

4.3 Driver Education

Georgia enacted legislation in 1997, 2001, and 2005 that significantly increased 

driver education requirements for drivers less than 18 years of age, and imposed 

restrictions on passengers for drivers under the age of 18. The Georgia legislation may 

have contributed to notable decreases in crashes involving drivers less than 25 years of 

age over the 2001-2010 period. It bodes well for further decreases in crashes if the 

increased educational requirements for young drivers result in fewer crashes as drivers 

age. (See Appendix C for details on driver age and gender.) 

GOL will make presentations to businesses on crossing safety including 

employers that operate large vehicle fleets of vehicles such as United Parcel Service 

(UPS), a GOL member. The national support center, Operation Lifesaver, Inc. (OLI 

http://oli.org/) has recently launched an on-line program for professional truck drivers 

(http://oli.org/e-learning-survey/) that is being used by Georgia Motor Trucking 

Association (GMTA http://www.gmta.org/), UPS, and YRC Worldwide. 

5.0 Engineering

5.1 Crossing Closures and Consolidations

(See Section 6.1 for discussion of Georgia code concerning crossing closure.) 

GDOT routinely examines adjacent crossings for closure potential when it 

assesses crossings for warning device improvement, and in connection with construction 

of new grade separations or other new highways or capacity improvements. 

GDOT has actively sought to leverage Section 130 Program improvements to 

close crossings, including crossings that are already equipped with active warning 

devices. One strategy employed by GDOT is to develop a package of active warning 

improvements that includes a crossing closure or closures, and active warning device 

improvement at a crossing or crossings that would not otherwise warrant improvement if 

a crossing or crossings were not closed. This provides local officials the incentive of 

additional warning device improvements in promoting closure in interactions with 

constituents and crossing stakeholders. This approach may also be particularly effective 

when the combination of closure(s) and additional gate installation result in all crossings 

within a municipality or county (or a substantial segment of a railroad line within a 

county) are equipped with gates. GDOT routinely includes development of packages of 

improvements that include closures in its Section 130 corridor crossing studies (see 

Section 7.2 for discussion of crossing corridor studies). 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

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Packaging together warning device improvements and closures recently came to 

fruition in closing two crossings on NS in Adel, and is approaching fruition with respect 

to closing two crossings on CSXT in Waycross.30 It is progressing on closure of a Floyd 

County crossing. Crossing closures are likewise promising in connection with improving 

flashers to gates at a Quitman and a Collins crossing, and equipping a couple of Coweta 

County crossing with gates. 

Projects near Douglas and Waycross, Georgia exemplify crossing closures in 

connection with highway capacity projects. These projects will involve widening state 

highways parallel and relatively close to railroad lines. Plans are to close one crossing, 

and install of gates at one or both crossings on either side of the closed crossing in 

connection with widening of SR32 west of Douglas. Plans are to close two crossings in 

connection with widening SR38 west of Waycross.31

A grade separation project in Douglasville exemplifies crossing closures in 

connection with new highway that includes a grade separation. Plans are to close two 

grade crossings, and relocate another grade crossing to improve crossing geometry as part 

of the project. (See Table 6.) 

GDOT has been supportive of the general success that CSXT and NS have had in 

Georgia in demanding three crossing closures for each new grade crossing. NS was 

successful in closing three Jackson County crossings in conjunction with the new Steve 

Reynolds Blvd crossing 717714Y. Jackson County is considering another new crossing, 

and is seeking to identify crossing closure candidates. Barrow County is seeking to 

reopen 640131U, and is aware that CSXT will require closure of three crossings. 

5.2 Grade Separations

Crossing safety is but one of many elements considered with respect to new grade 

separations. Road user delay is usually the most important grade separation 

consideration from an economic perspective. 

Many Georgia grade separations have been and are being constructed in 

connection with new or relocated highways, in addition to new grade separations 

replacing grade crossings at or near the same location as the grade crossing, sometimes in 

connection with highway widening. New grade separations improve crossing safety even 

when grade crossings are not closed in connection with the new construction when new 

traffic is attracted to the new grade separation, or diverted from grade crossings to grade 

separations. 

Table 6 identifies grade separations that are currently under construction, in the 

GDOT Construction Work Program (CWP), or in the Long Range Plan (LRP). Other 

grade separations may be in the proposal/pre-planning stage, and not yet included in the 

LRP. The CWP is updated annually for the current and subsequent five fiscal year 

 

30 Unfortunately, there was a 2011 crash at one of the two crossings that were closed in Adel, and another 2011 crash at 

an Adel crossing that was equipped with gates as part of the package of crossing safety improvements shortly before 

the crossing was closed and gates in service, as previously mentioned in footnote 18. 

31 P.I. 421345 Douglas, and P.I. 522780 Waycross. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

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Table 6 New Grade Separations 1 

County (City) Name USDOT ID P.I. No. 2 Comment

Projects currently under construction – 6 grade separations

(Garden City) Borne Avenue 734155V 0000345 SR309

Cobb Lewis Road 719826E 0004446 Overpass

(Kennesaw) S. of Cherokee St New 0004509 Pedestrian underpass

(Stockbridge) Park Trail New 0007946 Pedestrian underpass

Troup S. LaGrange Loop New 350990 Underpass

(Lithonia) Lithonia Ind Blvd New 753230 Underpass

Construction Work Program (CWP) Projects – 16 grade separations

Bibb Sardis Church 

Road

New 

729374Y 0000566 Grade separations of two rail lines located ~3 miles apart

(Atlanta) C.W. Grant Pkwy 717985E 0001817 Design nearly complete

Barrow W. Winder Byp 719816Y 0006327

(Douglasville) (relocated) SR92 726586S 0006900

726587Y & 726588F will be closed, & 

726589M relocated to improve 

geometry. T-SPLOST TIA-DO-003 3

Houston (relocated) SR96 New 0008407 Design underway

Chatham DeLoach Pkwy New 0008690 Pt. Wentworth Lead overpass

Stephens SR17 New 122110 Design underway

(Jackson) SR36 718448H 333171 Alternately / also P.I. 322440

(Valdosta) W. Hill Street 723530M 422710 SR38 (US84)

(Albany) Clarke St ext New 450540

Whitfield Carbondale Rd New 610890

Floyd W. Rome Byp New 621600 Design underway

Floyd W. Rome Byp New 621660 Design underway

Murray Haden Tyler Rd 340661F 642370 Design underway

Gordon S. Calhoun Byp New 662510 Design underway

Long Range Program (LRP) Projects – 15 grade separations (exc highlighted gray)

(Hazlehurst) Tallahassee St 729021L 0001810 SR19-US23 

DeKalb Montreal Road 639803B 0001814

Gwinnett Rock Bridge Rd 639794E 0001815

(Auburn) Sixth Street 640138S 0001816

(Griffin) A.K. Bolton Pkwy 904053X 0001818 SR16

(Waycross) SR4-US1Bus New 0002870

Bleckley SR87 729305R 0003625 In connection with widening

Peach Fort Valley Byp New 0006963 SR49C ext to SR96 in NE quad

Twiggs SR96 729405V 322460 In connection with widening

(LaGrange) Roanoke Road 638738K 350920 SR109

(LaGrange) I-185 - SR1 Conn New 362910 Grade separation possibility

(Douglas) SR135 638202N 431830 Douglas Bypass

(Cordele) Midway Road 638311S 442660

Telfair S. McRae Byp New 531100 Grade seps at NS & HOG RR

Rockdale Sigman Road 903962J 752215 Alternately P.I. 752210

(Jesup) Sunset Blvd 729079U Proposed SR169, project concept report

(Jonesboro) J’boro Connector New TIA-CL-005 T-SPLOST project 3

(Kennesaw) Moon Station Rd 340486U TIA-CO-021 T-SPLOST project 3

(Doraville) Moon Station Rd New TIA-DK-057 T-SPLOST project 3

Gwinnett Sugarloaf Pkwy ext New TIA-GW-060 T-SPLOST project 3

Table notes on next page. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

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Table 6 notes (previous page)

1 Sources: TREX http://app5-trex-web.dot.ga.gov/trex_external/viewer.htm),

Trans Pi (http://www.dot.state.ga.us/informationcenter/transpi/Pages/ProjectSelection.aspx) 

2 In some instances the projects are large and the grade separation is but an element of the project. 

3 Projects to be under construction prior to 2022 if metro Atlanta Transportation Special Option Sales Tax (T-SPLOST) 

referendum is approved. Other projects in the table that are located outside of metro Atlanta may be included in other regional 

T-SPLOST referenda. See footnote 17 for T-SPLOST information. 

period. The current CWP covers projects through June 2017.32 The CWP consists of 

projects for which funding has been identified, and for which concrete steps toward 

project implementation, including up to initiation and completion of construction, are 

anticipated to occur during the period of the CWP. 

The LRP identifies projects for further development where construction, if it were 

to occur, would not commence until after the period covered by the CWP. LRP projects 

are included in this Plan because they may be further developed over the course of the 

term of this Plan. LRP projects are also mentioned to demonstrate that grade separation 

projects, or the inclusion of grade separations as an element of larger or broader projects, 

are regularly considered in Georgia’s long range transportation planning processes. 

Grade separations as stand-alone projects, or as elements of other projects, will continue 

to be included in long range transportation planning,33

 GDOT will continue to seek 

crossing closure(s) in connection with new roads with new grade separations, and closure 

of adjacent crossings when a new grade separation replaces a grade crossing.34

The Governor’s Road Improvement Program (GRIP) was initiated by the Georgia 

General Assembly to connect 95% of Georgia cities with a population of 2,500 or more 

to the Interstate system by a four-lane road. 35

 GRIP implementation would place 98% of 

the state’s population within 20 miles of a four-lane road. The 19 corridor GRIP is 

currently three-quarters complete or in the process of being completed. Many new grade 

separations have been constructed in connection with GRIP. 

There are currently approximately two dozen locations where the remaining 

approximately 1,000 miles of incomplete GRIP corridors cross railroads.36 New grade 

separations are anticipated at some of these crossings upon GRIP build out. 

 

32 The GDOT (and Georgia) fiscal year is July 1 through June 30. The CWP information in this Plan is 

generally based on the 2011 CWP that applies through June 2017. 

33 GDOT performs Value Engineering (VE) Studies on all construction projects with total combined costs 

of $10M or more. Some grade separations exceed $10M. Grade separations less than $10M by 

themselves may be part of a larger project and thereby subjected to VE Study. VE Studies in some 

instances have determined that a grade separation does not provide good value (highway delay being the 

controlling benefit as mentioned in the first paragraph of this section), and the grade separation is 

replaced with a grade crossing. 

34

 A new Douglasville grade separation for instance will result in the closure of two grade crossings, and 

relocation of another grade crossing that will improve safety by improving crossing geometry. 

35 GRIP: http://www.dot.state.ga.us/informationcenter/programs/roadimprovement/GRIP/Pages/default.aspx

The General Assembly increased the original 2,845 mile 1989 GRIP network in 2001 and 2005. The build 

out GRIP currently totals 3,273 miles. 

36 There are eight crossings on the 169 mile on East-West corridor connecting I-85 and I-59, five or six on that 

part of US280 corridor between Cordele and I-16, four or five on US441 corridor, three each on the Fall Line 

Freeway corridor and that part of the SR32 corridor between Dawson and Ashburn, and one each on the US27 

(SR1) and SR17 corridors. (The SR133 corridor is in design and maintains an existing grade crossing.) 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

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5.3 Active Warning Device Improvements

GDOT utilizes the Peabody-Dimmick formula in the objective portion of its 

prioritization process for installation of gates in administering the Section 130 Program.37 

The formula result, referred to as the Hazard Index, is then adjusted for five year crash 

history and crash severity, and school bus use of crossings, resulting in an Adjusted 

Hazard Index (AHI). AHI is thus a prioritization tool with a crash experience element. 

The decrease in total crashes indicates it is useful in prioritizing the installation of gates. 

Gates have already been installed at six crossings where collectively 19 crashes 

have occurred in the 2005-2010 period.38 The installation of gates, though not certain to 

eliminate future crashes, has been effective as there have not been any crashes at any of 

the six crossings since gate installation. 39

GDOT has programmed the installation of gates at 12 other multiple crash 

crossings where 32 other crashes have occurred since 2005. These crossings are 

identified in Table 7. GDOT anticipates installation of gates at all of the Table 7 

crossings, with the exception of Old Dixie Highway 717987T, Riddleville Road 865801H 

and SR53 340856T where gate installation is to be coordinated with other highway 

projects, to be completed prior to 2014.40

GDOT will continue its emphasis on close examination of multiple crash 

crossings by initiating comprehensive diagnostic analyses at the eight multiple crash 

crossings identified in Table 8 prior to the end of 2012. Gates will be programmed for 

installation if warranted as a result of the diagnostic analysis, with installation anticipated 

to be completed prior to 2016. Gates will have been installed at 26 passive crossings that 

collectively experienced 69 of the 228 total multiple passive crossing crashes in the 

2005-2010 period, if gates are installed at all Table 7 and Table 8 crossings. 

GDOT has also programmed the installation of gates at many non-multiple crash 

crossings that are not identified in this Plan. The multiple crash crossings programmed 

for installation of gates identified in Table 7 and for diagnostic analysis in Table 8, are 

identified because of the Plan’s focus on multiple crash crossings. 

 

37 The circumstances under which GDOT would consider installation of flashers are so limited that it is 

installation of gates instead of installation of active warning devices more aptly describes improvement 

of active warning devices at passive crossings. 

38 Note this is the most recent six year period, but consists of crossings with two or more crashes within a 

consecutive five year period. Fourteen of the 19 crashes occurred at four flasher crossings. The 

19 crashes at multiple crash crossings do not include two crashes at the W. Paces Ferry Road crossing 

where four-quadrant gates have since been installed to replace two-quadrant gates in connection with the 

establishment of a new quiet zone. Gates have also been installed in 2011 at Sweat St 637584H which 

experienced crashes in 2003, 2004, and 2009, just outside of the cited 2005-2010 window. 

39 The six crossings are as follows: Weldon Rd 050409R (6 crashes, flashers); Aaron Blvd (4 crashes 

excluding a pedestrian fatality, four-track flashers); and Roper Rd (3 crashes, passive); two crashes each 

at Athens St 640124J (two-track flashers), Minchew Rd 638165N (passive), and Barber St 639913L 

(two-track flashers). 

40 Simple gate installations are typically completed within two years of being programmed by GDOT. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

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Table 7 2005-2010 Multiple Crash Crossings Programmed for Gates 1 

County 

(City) Name USDOT 

ID

2005-2010

Crashes P.I. No. Comment

Fulton Old Dixie Hwy 2717987T 3 0001817 Existing flashers on Brewery Lead

(Augusta) Arthern Road 633711T 2 0005934 Two-track crossing

(Sandersville) Riddleville Rd 865801H 2 0007415 SR242, existing flashers

(Warner Robins Ignico Road 729216Y 5

3

0008952 Existing flashers

Dodge Garrison Road 729365A 2 0008953 NS line serving Brunswick

Gordon Midway Road 719727G 2 0009730 Relocation to improve geometry

(Madison) Jefferson St 279605K 4

3 0009735 4 track joint CSXT-SCS xing 4

(Augusta) L. Walker Blvd 723120U 5

2 0009736 3 track joint NS-CSXT xing 5

(Atlanta) Brown’s Mill Rd 717958H 4 0009895 Non-main 3-track crossing

(Lithonia) Main Street 279684Y 3 0010191 Two-track flasher crossing

(Homerville) Mulch Plant Rd 637404H 2 0010358 Plus a 2004 fatality crash

Pickens SR53 340856T 2 632710 6 GNRR multi-track flashers

(East Point) Bayard Street 718006D 3 0002165 2007 & 2-2002 crashes, 4 trk fls

(Gordon) Henry Owens Rd 719723E 2 0004607 2004 & 2003 crashes

(Tyrone) Valleywood Rd 639492C 2 0010309 2001 & 2008 crashes, 2 tracks

Total 1

12 Crossings 32 15 Xings, 36 crashes inc the latter 3 xings

1 Multiple crash crossings programmed for installation of gates that are not included in totals because the multiple 

crashes occurred outside of the 2005-2010 period are highlighted gray. 

2 Included as part of Grant Parkway grade separation identified in Table 8.

3 The five crashes do not include a June 2011 crash. 

4 USDOT ID is that of the CSXT crossing. The Squaw Creek Southern Railroad crossing USDOT ID is 733136M. 

5 USDOT ID is that of the NS crossing. The CSXT crossing USDOT ID is 633713G. 

6 Currently in the Long Range Program, but GDOT has initiated diagnostic evaluation of the crossing for gate installation. 

This Plan includes more specific detail within its first few years. Other multiple 

crash crossings will be subjected to diagnostic investigation and programmed for 

installation of gates as warranted prior to 2018, in addition to investigation and the 

programming of installation of gates at non-multiple crash crossings. 

Table 8 Multiple Crash Crossings for Diagnostic Analysis 1 

County 

(City) Name USDOT 

ID

2005-2010 

Crashes Comment

(Winder) Beulah Street 640128J 3 Multi-track flashers

(Thomson) Greenway St 279506M 3 Flashers

(Quitman) M.L. King Jr. Dr 643305Y 2 Multi-track flashers 1

(Fort Valley) State Univ Dr 733469N 2 Multi-track flashers (aka S. Macon St)

(Griffin) 13

th Street 718191A 2 Multi-track flashers

(College Park) Roberts Road 050364L 2 Plus 2-2002 crashes at passive xing

(Fairburn) Johnston Circle 050408J 2 Plus 2002 crash at passive crossing

(Palmetto) Harper Street 050404G 2 Main trk & major sdg at passive xing

Total 8 crossings 18

1 This crossing is included in a corridor study that was completed in Feb 2011. It may be programmed for gates. The 

installation of gates is part of a package of crossing safety improvements that will be pursued that would result in a 

crossing closure. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

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Georgia has not installed four-quadrant gates with Section 130 funds. GDOT will 

consider using Section 130 funds to install four-quadrant gates (not in connection with 

the establishment of a quiet zone) at crossings equipped with gates that have experienced 

multiple crashes. 

5.4 Other Safety Improvements

GDOT does not require a monetary local match to install active warning devices 

at crossings in its administration of Section 130 funds. GDOT leverages Section 130 

funds however by typically requiring local road authority contribution in the form of 

installing or renewing passive warning devices at crossings (advance warning signs and 

pavement markings, center line and lane line markings, and special hazard signs, etc) 

where active warning devices are being installed or improved.41

GDOT also often requires local road authorities contribute in the form of 

installing or widening hard surface pavements to minimum widths and distances from the 

crossing prior to gate installations.42 Other geometry improvements such road or 

crossing relocation, or road profile improvements by local road authorities may be 

required. GDOT will consider requiring a wider minimum width pavement, depending 

on crossing circumstances, so as to accommodate bollards or some other type of median 

divider. 

Passive warning device improvements may cost effectively improve crossing 

safety. GDOT has also used Section 130 funds for comprehensive passive warning 

device improvement. GDOT typically makes comprehensive passive warning device 

improvements subsequent to completion of crossing corridor studies that are discussed 

hereafter in Section 7.2. GDOT plans to continue to follow up on corridor studies by 

correcting passive warning device deficiencies, and making passive warning device 

improvements across corridors. 

GDOT, when making passive warning device improvements, is focusing more 

attention to passive warning devices that identify special crossing hazards, particularly 

high profile crossings, and limited storage distance between crossing and nearby stop 

signs on crossing roads where the stop sign may result in vehicles being stopped on 

crossings.43 GDOT will consider including performance-based specifications in 

connection with passive warning device and regulatory signage improvements to increase 

the cost-effectiveness of the improvements. 

 

41 Local road authority herein means County or municipal governing authority as concerns county road or 

city street system respectively. 

42 Currently a minimum 20 foot width hard surface pavement a minimum 200 feet from the crossing is 

typically required, though greater widths, and greater or lesser distance from crossing may be required, 

depending on circumstances. 

43 GDOT’s informal general standard concerning storage distance is to display W10-11 series signs 

whenever the vehicle storage distance is 40 feet or less because bus use of such crossings is of concern. 

The general informal standard is that W10-11 series signs are displayed whenever vehicle storage 

distance is less than 75 feet on other than local roads, based on a tractor-53 foot trailer combination. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

- 24 - 

GDOT in its Section 130 passive warning device improvement projects works 

with local road authorities to change traffic controls at adjacent intersections, or prohibit 

use of crossings by certain types of vehicles in place of hazard warnings to improve 

crossing safety.44

 The most recent revision of the MUTCD added a new the ninth signal 

warrant that provides guidance concerning use of highway intersection signal at 

intersections adjacent to crossings as a means to control queuing. GDOT is routinely 

considering the warrant in its diagnostic crossing evaluations. 

Twenty-two percent (39 of 175) of the 2006-2010 period public crossing crashes 

at passive Georgia crossings involved vehicles striking a train. One implication is that 

many road users may be traveling too fast approaching the crossing based on sight 

conditions. GDOT will more closely consider treatments, particularly on relatively high 

speed highways, that augment standard crossing advance warnings to alert road users to a 

crossing ahead, or encourage reduced speed approaching crossings, such as rumble 

strips.45

Georgia is also actively examining and as warranted installing pre-emption at 

crossings. The City of Marietta has plans to install pre-emption at the Whitlock Avenue 

crossing, a multiple crash crossing identified in Table 5. GDOT will be investigating 

installation of pre-emption at the Waverly Way crossing, another Marietta crossing 

identified in Table 5. Traffic queued on these crossings because of the signals appears to 

have been a contributing factor in one-half dozen crashes in the 2005-2010 period though 

the highway intersections are located more than 200 feet from each of these crossings. 

GDOT corridor crossing studies, described in Section 7.2, have also identified 

crossings where pre-emption is required or recommended but not present, with GDOT 

subsequently programming pre-emption installation projects.46

 

44 An example is changing stop sign control to give the crossing traffic right-of-way. In some instances 

change from two-way stop to all-way stop has been made. Though not as desirable as giving crossing 

traffic right-of-way, a four-way stop reduces crossing hazard relative to a two-way crossing road stop. 

45 Rumble strips in many instances can do the double duty of helping alert drivers to a crossing as well as a 

stop sign at nominal distance beyond the crossing. 

46 Madison St 636976F in Thomasville, and Broad St 636831U in Cairo were identified by a Corridor 

Crossing Study completed in Feb 2011, and are expected to be programmed for installation of 

pre-emption. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

- 25 - 

6.0 Enforcement

6.1 Georgia Code (See Section 7.3 for discussion of Georgia code governing 

school bus use of crossings.) 

Crossing surface condition may affect crossing safety. Georgia code, the Official 

Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A.), proscribes the railroad’s grade crossing surface 

maintenance responsibility. GDOT has developed a means of resolving disputes between 

railroads and road authorities concerning crossing surface and geometry. 

More importantly as concerns crossing safety, O.C.G.A. § 32-6-193.1, 

Elimination of grade crossings by physical removal; procedures, provides a means to 

close public crossings that are not “reasonably necessary in the interest of public safety". 

“Reasonably necessary in the interest of public safety” in the code “means that the 

enhancement of public safety resulting from such elimination of the grade crossing will 

outweigh any inconvenience to the reasonable passage of public traffic, specifically 

including without limitation emergency vehicle traffic, caused by such rerouting of 

traffic.” Code requires each of eleven identified factors be considered with respect to 

crossings closure.47

O.C.G.A. § 32-6-193.1 permits railroads to petition to close crossings, and 

notably allows railroads to request a GDOT review of a local road authority’s rejection of 

a petition to close a local road crossing. Railroads have exercised the latter provision, 

and GDOT has on occasion reversed the local road authority’s decision to deny crossing 

closure, most recently in Casseels Road 637344B.48 GDOT will continue to apply code 

standards in evaluating crossings for closure. 

6.2 Law Enforcement Training

Georgia was one of the first states in the nation to offer specialized training to law 

enforcement and emergency responders in how to respond to train-vehicle collisions, 

Grade Crossing Collision Investigation (GCCI), and Rail Safety for Emergency 

Responders (RSER). Georgia Operation Lifesaver (GOL), as part of a GOHS grant 

program, will be providing this training in 2011 and 2012. GOL will also provide special 

school bus driver training through the Georgia Association for Pupil Transportation

(http://www.gaptonline.org/), and commercial truck drivers through the Georgia Motor 

Trucking Association (http://www.gmta.org/).

6.3 Law Enforcement Activity

The crossing crash subject matter prepared as described in Section 4.1 (Table 5 

for example) can be used to focus enforcement activity as well as serve as an education 

and awareness tool. GDOT will furnishing the information to the Georgia State Patrol in 

addition to local governments, and will suggest local government target enforcement 

activities at the subject crossings or corridors. 

 

47 See Appendix B for O.C.G.A. language. 

48 The petition was motivated in part by a 2003 fatality crash involving Amtrak that also injured 25 passengers. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

- 26 - 

7.0 Data Analysis

7.1 Inventory and Crash Data

The Rail Safety Improvement Act required this Plan focus on multiple crash 

crossings, or crossings that are at high risk for multiple crashes, and identify specific 

solutions for improving safety at such crossings. Much of this Plan as described thus far 

has focused on specific solutions at crossings that have experienced multiple crashes. 

The Federal Highway Administration’s Railroad-Highway Grade Crossing 

Handbook (http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/xings/com_roaduser/07010/) is an excellent general 

source of crossing crash risk factors and prediction of crashes and crash severity based on 

risk factors. This Plan section will focus on the identification of Georgia crossings that 

are at high risk for multiple crashes.

Analysis of past crash experience may be the single best source of identifying risk 

factors. GDOT recently completed a comprehensive update of USDOT and GDOT 

crossing inventory information. Updated inventory information can result in better crash 

report information, and consequently better crash analysis. 

Crash analysis has been an integral part of GDOT’s administration of the 

Section 130 Program. Plan development was grounds for initiating additional analysis 

that is yet underway. The examination of 2005-2010 multiple crash public crossing data 

thus far indicate that the following characteristics are associated with Georgia multiple 

crash crossings (in no particular order of importance): 

Amtrak crossings – Six of the eight total 2006-2010 period Amtrak crashes in 

Georgia occurred at multiple crash crossings.49 Five of those six crossings were 

equipped with gates. The other was a passive crossing. (One gate and one passive 

crossing round out the eight.) 

Flasher crossings, particularly multiple track flasher crossings – Many Georgia 

multiple crash crossing crashes occur at flasher crossings, including short line 

flasher crossings. Flasher crossings accounted for 29% (37 of 128 per Table 2) of 

the active warning device multiple crash crossing crashes in the 2006-2010 period 

but constitute only 11% of active warning device crossings. This experience is 

what would be expected based on USDOT national level research that indicates that 

gates may be expected to reduce crashes at flasher crossings by roughly two-thirds, 

everything else being equal. 

Georgia flasher however are more likely to be located on lower railroad and 

higway traffic volume crossings than crossings equipped with gates. The 

expectation, given lower railroad and higway traffic volumes, is that there should be 

fewer multiple crash flasher crossing crashes than have occurred. 

Multiple track flasher crossings are a hazard concern because six of the 14 

flasher crossings with multiple crashes in the 2006-2010 period are multiple track 

 

49 The Amtrak multiple crash crossings were multiple crash crossings because of NS or CSXT crashes at the 

crossings, not because there were two or more Amtrak crashes at the crossings. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

- 27 - 

crossings. Multiple track multiple crash crossings account for 44% of all multiple 

crash flasher crossing crashes excluding two single track flasher crossings that each 

experienced five crashes.50

Crossings with irregular or poor highway alignment – These include crossings 

where the highway alignment as a high vertical profile or hump at the crossing that 

may result in low ground clearance vehicles becoming stuck on the crossing. Also 

included are crossings where there is a change in horizontal curvature or change 

from tangent to curvature at or very near the crossing. These two alignment 

characteristics at a crossing exacerbate each other. Horizontal curvature is of extra 

concern where the highway is narrow because vehicles are more apt to leave the 

crossing surface at the crossing and become stuck while fouling the crossing. 

Generally speaking, Amtrak crossings are high hazard Georgia crossings to the 

small extent that the relative number of Amtrak crashes is higher than freight train 

crashes on the lines where Amtrak operates. Amtrak crossing crashes in the 2006-2010 

period account for 15% (3 of 20) of the crashes on the CSXT segments and 9% (4 of 45) 

of the crashes on the NS segments where Amtrak operates in Georgia.51

Georgia’s Amtrak crash experience may be indicative of more crashes occurring 

where trains operate at higher speeds because the Amtrak routes are the only Georgia 

routes where train speeds may exceed 60 mph. This experience is may also indicate the 

role of a wide mixture of train speeds, because freight trains other than intermodal trains 

are restricted to 60 mph on CSXT and 50 mph on NS Amtrak routes within Georgia. 

Georgia flasher crossings collectively are no more hazardous than flasher 

crossings elsewhere in the US. Installing gates at flasher crossings however, may 

produce a greater safety return on investment that installation of gates at passive 

crossings. This occurs in spite of the fact that the installation of gates at a passive 

crossing reduces the relative risk by more than the two-thirds reduction of the installation 

of gates at a flasher crossing when the risk at a flasher crossing is much greater than crash 

risk at a passive crossing. 

GDOT anticipates using the Class I railroad segment crash information developed 

in the preparation of Table 3 to perform additional crash analysis. Likewise GDOT 

anticipates performing additional analysis to identify specific characteristics associated 

with crashes where the proximity of intersections is a cause of contributing factor, and 

develop and implement mitigation accordingly. 

 

50 The two single track flasher crossings are Weldon Rd 050409R and Ignico Rd 729216Y. There have 

been no crashes at Weldon Rd since gates were installed a few years ago, and gates are programmed for 

installation at Ignico Rd. 

51 This especially appears to be the case for Amtrak on NS routes in Georgia. There are 56% more Amtrak 

crashes on NS than on CSXT in Georgia after adjusting for Amtrak train volume and numbers of 

crossings. This may be explained perhaps by the fact that 108 of the 123 NS Amtrak crossings are 

located in metropolitan Atlanta where highway traffic volumes are higher and/or the NS Amtrak 

crossings are located in north Georgia where topography and railroad geometry generally result in lower 

sight distances from the crossing along the railroad. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

- 28 - 

7.2 Programmatic Corridor Study and Corridor Improvements

GDOT has long taken a programmatic corridor approach in prioritizing crossings 

for diagnostic evaluation, and programming improvements based on the evaluation. 

Amtrak routes and the Strategic Rail corridor Network (STRACNET), which in Georgia 

are medium or high train traffic routes, have been the focus of past corridor studies.52

GDOT’s corridor approach appears to be producing results. Corridors used by 

Amtrak were examined in the early years of the last decade, and passive warning device 

improvements and gate installations were subsequently made at crossings used by 

Amtrak. Amtrak crashes at passive public crossings decreased from six in the 2001-2005 

period to one in the 2006-2010 period. Freight train crashes at passive crossings on those 

same corridors decreased too, from 28 to 18 in the same periods, resulting in a 44% 

reduction in crossing crashes for combined Amtrak and freight trains at corridor 

crossings.53

Crash experience and the existing types of warning devices are very important to 

GDOT in the selection of corridors for crossing studies.54 Train traffic characteristics, 

and to a lesser degree train and highway traffic trends, are also considered when selecting 

corridors for diagnostic crossing evaluation. Considering traffic trends in selecting 

corridors proactively addresses crossing safety. 

GDOT as part of its administration of the Section 130 Program has identified the 

following corridors for possible comprehensive crossing corridor studies over the next 

few years. The corridors are listed in no particular order.55 Figure 6 depicts corridors 

that have been the subject of comprehensive corridor studies since 2004 as well as those 

identified for possible comprehensive in this Plan. 

CSXT Augusta-Atlanta based on a relatively high number of crashes per route-mile at 

passive crossings, and a relatively high number of flasher crossings (Georgia 

Subdivision in Table 3). 

NS Atlanta-Macon based on increasing Savannah Port traffic in addition to already 

existing heavy railroad traffic (Atl South District in Table 3). 

 

52 FRA and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) have identified a 38,800 mile long STRACNET 

important to national defense. This rail network serves 193 DoD installations that have missions that 

require rail service. It includes 32,500 miles of rail lines critical for movement of military equipment to 

various ports, and 5,000 miles of rail lines that connect DoD installations to each other. 

53 The number of crashes is rather small, and the reductions have not been subjected to rigorous 

mathematical analysis, but the warning device improvements seem to have resulted in significant 

improvement. See Charlotte and Birmingham Districts, and Columbia, Charleston, Savannah, and 

Nahunta Subdivisions in Table 3. 

54 The existing type of warning devices is relevant in that these studies are taken with the primary purpose 

of making active warning device improvements. 

55 The Griffin-Atlanta corridor will be examined if new Griffin-Atlanta commuter service is included in the 

pool of projects to be submitted to the metro Atlanta electorate in a 31 July 2012 referendum, and the 

referendum is approved. Section 130 participation in the funding any Griffin-Atlanta crossing corridor 

study in that circumstance has not been determined at this time. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

- 29 - 

Figure 6 Georgia Corridors Crossing Studies 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

- 30 - 

NS Macon-Brunswick based on recent significant increases in railroad traffic, 

particularly motor vehicle import-export traffic, through the Port of Brunswick 

(Brunswick District in Table 3). 

CSXT Athens-Gainesville based on a relatively high number of crashes per railroad 

route-mile at passive crossings on a line located at the fringe of exurban metropolitan 

Atlanta (Gainesville Subdivision in Table 3). 

NS Rome-Bremen-Newnan based on steady mostly coal traffic on a line located in 

rapidly developing exurban metropolitan Atlanta (CGA District in Table 3).56

CSXT Atlanta-West Point based on a relatively high number of crashes per 

route-mile on a line that extending from the Atlanta urban core to the fringe of 

exurban metropolitan Atlanta, and that has been experiencing higher than average 

train traffic growth because of, among other things, construction of the West Point 

KIA motor vehicle assembly plant that is served by the line (A&WP Subdivision in 

Table 3). 

GDOT crossing corridor studies have largely focused on Engineering. Future 

corridor studies will include more emphasis on the education and enforcement 

components of crossing safety. 

7.3 School Bus Use of Crossing Reporting

Georgia code requires that public school districts exercise best efforts to avoid use 

of passive warning device only crossings, that they annually report school bus use of 

passive crossings to GDOT, and that GDOT use that information as an important factor 

in prioritizing installation of active warning devices. GDOT uses school bus use of 

crossings in its Adjusted Hazard Index as previously mentioned. 

GDOT in 2011 will conclude preparation and dissemination of instructions for 

counting school bus use of crossings to promote uniformity of reporting across school 

districts, and furnish the instructions to school districts. Likewise GDOT is completing 

geographically ordered lists of crossings by railroad line and county to assist school 

districts in reporting school bus use of passive crossings as they are required to do by 

code. School districts will be requested to report school bus use of crossings equipped 

with active warning devices every five years (years ending in five or zero) with that 

information used to update GDOT and USDOT crossing inventory databases.

 

56 GDOT will consult with Georgia Power/Southern Company concerning coal-fired Plants Wansley and 

Yates served by the line prior to performing a corridor study. There have been media reports of closure 

and /or change in fuel at one or both plants because of air quality concerns. Traffic on the line largely 

consists of coal traffic to the plants, and closure or change in fuel would significantly affect railroad 

traffic on the line. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

Appendix A - 49 CFR Part 234, Subpart B, § 234.11 

49 CFR Part 234, Grade Crossing Signal System Safety and State Action Plans 

Subpart B, Reports and Plans 

§ 234.11 State highway-rail grade crossing action plans 

(a) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to reduce collisions at highway-rail grade 

crossings in the ten States that have had the most highway-rail grade crossing collisions, 

on average, during the calendar years 2006, 2007, and 2008. This section does not 

restrict any other State, or other entity, from adopting a highway-rail grade crossing 

action plan. This section also does not restrict any of the States required to develop 

action plans under this section from adopting a highway-rail grade crossing action plan 

with additional or more stringent requirements not inconsistent with this section. 

(b) Application. This section applies to the ten States that have had the most highway-rail 

grade crossing collisions, on average, during the calendar years 2006, 2007, and 2008. 

(c) Action plans. (1) The ten identified States shall each develop a State highway-rail 

grade crossing action plan and submit such a plan to FRA for review and approval not 

later than August 27, 2011. 

(2) A State highway-rail grade crossing action plan shall: 

(i) Identify specific solutions for improving safety at crossings, including highway-rail 

grade crossing closures or grade separations; 

(ii) Focus on crossings that have experienced multiple accidents or are at high risk for 

such accidents; and 

(iii) Cover a five-year time period. 

(d) Review and approval. (1) State highway-rail grade crossing action plans required 

under paragraph (c) of this section shall be submitted for FRA review and approval using 

at least one of the following methods: Mail to the Associate Administrator for Railroad 

Safety/Chief Safety Officer, U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad 

Administration, 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE., Washington, DC 20590; or e-mail to 

rrs.correspondence@fra.dot.gov. 

(2) FRA will review and approve or disapprove a State highway-rail grade crossing 

action plan submitted pursuant to paragraph (d) of this section within 60 days of receipt. 

(3) If the proposed State highway-rail grade crossing action plan is disapproved, FRA 

will notify the affected State as to the specific areas in which the proposed plan is 

deficient. A State shall correct all deficiencies within 30 days following receipt of 

written notice from FRA. 

(4) FRA may condition the awarding of any grants under 49 U.S.C. 20158, 20167, or 

22501 to an identified State on the development of an FRA approved State highway-rail 

grade crossing action plan.


Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

Appendix B – Selected Georgia Code 

(http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/gacode/Default.asp) 

School Buses

O.C.G.A. § 32-6-200 (d) (2): Each local school district in this state shall survey 

its established school bus routes annually and submit to the Department of Transportation 

a list identifying each rail crossing that does not have active warning devices on an 

established bus route. Each local school district shall be required to submit this 

information to the department each year by no later than September 1. 

O.C.G.A. § 32-6-200 (d) (3): Each local school district shall exercise best efforts 

to minimize the number of established school bus routes that cross rail crossings that do 

not have active warning devices. 

O.C.G.A. § 32-6-200 (d) (4): The department shall use the information about 

school bus routes as an important factor in selecting rail crossings to upgrade with active 

warning devices. 

Crossing Surfaces

O.C.G.A. § 32-6-190: Any railroad whose track or tracks cross a public road at 

grade shall have a duty to maintain such grade crossings in such condition as to permit 

the safe and reasonable passage of public traffic. Such duty of maintenance shall include 

that portion of the public road lying between the track or tracks and for two feet beyond 

the ends of the crossties on each side and extending four feet beyond the traveled way or 

flush with the edge of a paved shoulder, whichever is greater, of such crossing. 

Crossing Closures

O.C.G.A. § 32-6-193.1. Elimination of grade crossings by physical removal; 

procedures 

(a) The department shall by rule or regulation prescribe uniform criteria for its own 

use and that of local governing authorities in assessing whether elimination of a grade 

crossing on a public road by physical removal of the grade crossing and barricading or 

removing the approaches thereto without construction of an underpass or overpass is 

reasonably necessary in the interest of public safety. For purposes of this Code section, 

"reasonably necessary in the interest of public safety" means that the enhancement of 

public safety resulting from such elimination of the grade crossing will outweigh any 

inconvenience to the reasonable passage of public traffic, specifically including without 

limitation emergency vehicle traffic, caused by such rerouting of traffic. Such criteria 

shall include consideration of each of the following factors: 

(1) Number and timetable speeds of passenger trains operated through the crossing; 

(2) Number and timetable speeds of freight trains operated through the crossing; 

(3) Distance to alternate crossings; 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

(4) Accident history of the crossing for the immediately preceding five-year period; 

(5) Type of warning device present at the crossing, if any; 

(6) The alignments, horizontal and vertical, of the roadway and the railroad and the 

angle of the intersection of those alignments; 

(7) The average daily traffic volume in proportion to the population of the 

municipality if the crossing is located within a municipality or the population of the 

county if the crossing is located within an unincorporated area of a county; 

(8) The posted speed limit over the crossing; 

(9) The effect of closing the crossing upon access by persons utilizing: 

 (A) Hospital or medical facilities and public health departments, specifically 

including without limitation utilization by medical personnel; 

 (B) Facilities of federal, state, or local government, specifically including without 

limitation court, postal, library, sanitation, and park facilities; and 

 (C) Commercial, industrial, and other areas of public commerce; 

(10) Any use of the crossing by: 

 (A) Trucks carrying hazardous material; 

 (B) Vehicles carrying passengers for hire; 

 (C) School buses; 

 (D) Emergency vehicles; or 

 (E) Public or private utility vehicles, specifically including without limitation water, 

sewer, natural gas, and electric utility maintenance and repair vehicles; and 

(11) Any other relevant factors as prescribed by the department. 

(b) (1) Any railroad may file a written petition requesting an order to eliminate a grade 

crossing on a public road by physical removal of the grade crossing and barricading or 

removing the approaches thereto without construction of an underpass or overpass. Any 

such petition shall be filed by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery, return receipt 

requested, with the department in respect to the state highway system, a county governing 

authority in respect to its county road system, or a municipal governing authority in 

respect to its municipal street system. 

(2) Any petition by a railroad under this subsection shall include without limitation 

information as to each of the factors set forth in paragraphs (1) through (5) of 

subsection (a) of this Code section. 

(3) The department or the local governing authority, whichever is applicable, shall 

conduct a public hearing on the matter prior to deciding whether to grant or deny such a 

petition. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

(4) (A) No railroad shall have a duty to file a petition for elimination of a grade 

crossing as authorized by this subsection. 

 (B) Neither the failure of a railroad to file such a petition nor any decision by the 

department or any local governing authority regarding such a petition shall give rise to a 

cause of action against the railroad, the department, or a local governing authority by a 

person for injuries or damages arising from the existence or use of such crossing. 

(c) (1) If the department in respect to the state highway system, a county governing 

authority in respect to its county road system, or a municipal governing authority in 

respect to its municipal street system determines that elimination of a grade crossing in 

accordance with this Code section is reasonably necessary in the interest of public safety, 

the department or the local governing authority may issue an order to eliminate the 

crossing. Such order shall be in writing, and a copy shall be served upon the railroad. If 

a local governing authority issues such an order, it shall make a record of its findings and 

transmit a copy of the same along with the order to the department. 

 (2) If the department in respect to the state highway system, a county governing 

authority in respect to its county road system, or a municipal governing authority in 

respect to its municipal street system determines that elimination of a grade crossing in 

accordance with this Code section is not reasonably necessary in the interest of public 

safety, the department or the local governing authority may issue an order denying a 

petition to eliminate the crossing. Such order shall be in writing, and a copy shall be 

served upon the railroad. If a local governing authority denies a petition, it shall make a 

written record of its findings and transmit a copy of the same along with the order and 

petition to the department. 

 (3) (A) Any railroad aggrieved by an order of a local governing authority under this 

subsection may make a written request to the department for review of such order. Such 

request shall be accompanied by a $500.00 filing fee. The department shall within 60 

days after the filing of such request review the matter. 

 (B) Upon review of the order and findings of the local governing authority and any 

filings by the railroad, if the department determines that elimination of a grade crossing 

in accordance with this Code section is not reasonably necessary in the interest of public 

safety, the department shall order that the crossing shall remain open. 

 (C) Upon review of the order and findings of the local governing authority and any 

filings by the railroad, if the department determines that elimination of a grade crossing 

in accordance with this Code section is reasonably necessary in the interest of public 

safety, the department shall issue an order to eliminate the crossing. 

 (D) Any such order of the department shall be in writing, and a copy of the order shall 

be served upon the railroad and the local governing authority. As part of such order, the 

department shall assess all its costs of investigating and reviewing the matter against the 

railroad if an order for the crossing to remain open is issued or against the county or 

municipality if an order to eliminate the crossing is issued, and the party so assessed shall 

be liable therefor to the department; provided, however, that any filing fee paid to the 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

department by a railroad shall be applied to any such amount assessed against the 

railroad, and the balance of such filing fee, if any, shall be refunded to the railroad. The 

department shall keep detailed records of its costs of investigation and review for 

purposes of this subparagraph, and such records shall be subject to public inspection as 

provided by Article 4 of Chapter 18 of Title 50. 

(d) If an order to close a grade crossing is issued, the railroad shall at its expense 

physically remove the crossing from the tracks and for two feet beyond the ends of the 

crossties on each side and extending four feet beyond the traveled way or flush with the 

edge of a paved shoulder, whichever is greater, of such crossing and erect a department 

approved barricade; and the department in respect to the state highway system, the county 

in respect to its county road system, or the municipality in respect to its municipal street 

system may at its expense remove approaches to the crossing. The provisions of Code 

Section 32-6-195 for division of costs of elimination of a grade crossing by construction 

of an underpass or overpass shall not apply to elimination of any grade crossing under 

this Code section.
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

Appendix C – Public Comment 

A GDOT webpage (http://www.dot.ga.gov/doingbusiness/utilities/Pages/HwyRailActionPlan.aspx)

included a link to the draft Plan submitted 24 June 2011 to FRA for formal FRA 

review.57 The draft Plan webpage was available on-line on June 27, 2011. The webpage 

as it appeared before the draft Plan was closed to public comment is shown below. 

________________________________________________________________________

 

57 As information the webpage address in App E of the draft plan was incorrect. It omitted “Action” between “Rail” and “Plan.”
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

GDOT received the one public comment concerning the Plan shown below. 

From: caclendenen@mmm.com [mailto:caclendenen@mmm.com] 

Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 2:10 PM 

To: Hwy-RailCrossingPlan 

Subject: Comments on the published Rail crossing Draft. 

Gentlemen, 

Thank you for taking the time and effort to publish the departments plan to address 

railroad crossings in Georgia. I would like to again commend you on your efforts to 

ensure the safety of the motoring public a highway-rail crossing across the state. 

Moreover, I believe your efforts are paying off as we continue to see a reduction in 

Highway-Rail Grade crossing collisions in Georgia. However, with the expansion of 

the Port facilities in Savannah, the increase in manufacturing companies relocating to 

the south and the continued population growth coupled with the reduction in 

maintenance support of existing crossings, Georgia is likely to remain in the FRA's top 

ten states of highway-rail grade collisions. Below are some suggestions to the published 

drafts. The suggestion compliment the existing plan and enhances the current/future 

data collections capability. 

In this current fiscal crisis, it is challenging to fund and maintain the existing railroad 

crossing infrastructure with the traditional maintenance resources. Additionally, states 

are looking to ensure the financial resources spent to improve safety provides a 

maximum return on investment. The below suggestions include low cost safety 

enhancement programs with performance based characteristics to ensure greatest 

safety yield per dollar spent. Typical enhancement projects replace existing signs and 

pavement markings, however the state does receive an guarantee that product 

performance will meet expectations and the contractor has little if any culpability on 

the applied materials. 

The final recommendation is for enhanced data management to include inventory and 

assessment of passive warning devices and pavement markings at each rail location to 

help establish a single database for inventory, location, maintenance activities, and 

FHWA retroreflectivity requirements. This database should be tailored with any 

existing GDOT system and will enable the state to be in compliance with all FHWA 

signs and marking retroreflectivity requirements. 

Add to Section 5.4 Other Safety Improvements 

GDOT has also used Section 130 Program funds for comprehensive passive warning device improvement, 

typically subsequent to completion of crossing corridor studies that are discussed hereafter in Subsection 

7.2. GDOT is focusing more attention to passive warning devices that identify special crossing hazards, 

particularly high profile crossings, and limited storage distance between crossing and nearby stop signs on 

crossing roads that may result in vehicles being stopped on crossings when making passive warning device 

improvements 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

GDOT in connection with passive warning device improvement projects works with local governments to 

change traffic controls at adjacent intersections, or prohibit use of crossings by certain types of vehicles in 

place of warnings. The most recent revision of the MUTCD added a new the ninth signal warrant that 

provides guidance concerning use of highway intersection signal at intersections adjacent to crossings as a 

means to control queuing. GDOT is routinely considering the warrant in its diagnostic crossing evaluations. 

Passive warning devices such as the installation of advanced warning signs or regulatory 

signage tend to have high cost benefit ratios due to the economical cost of such 

improvements compared with the improved safety at crossing locations. Many states are 

implementing such programs and are often including performance-based specifications in 

the project contract documents. Performance-based contracts for traffic sign 

improvement projects (passive devices) would include value-based features for GDOT 

including automatic update of sign inventory information (see section on Inventory, 

Assessment, and Replacement plan) to keep data current, extended warranties, and 

increased reporting and accountability for the contractor. Often these contracts contain 

provisions for pay over time or pay for performance linking long-range performance 

guarantees to financial payment or a performance bond required by the Contractor. 

Agencies generally have significant financial leverage to ensure quality workmanship and 

long term performance through these contracts. Performance characteristics generally 

apply to the immediate deliverables as well as long range performance of pavement 

markings and traffic signs. 

Add to Section 7.0 Data and Data Analysis

Section 7.4 Traffic Sign and Pavement Marking Inventory, Assessment, and 

Replacement Program 

In 2008 the FHWA finalized a new rule requiring agencies to meet minimum standards 

for retroreflectivity of traffic signs by specific phase-in dates as outlined in the rule. 

Included in the rule was a requirement for agencies to have a management plan 

established for traffic sign assets within 4 years from adoption of the rule. GDOT is in a 

unique position on any proposed passive improvements for railroad grade crossings that 

would be implemented through the implementation of this plan. As mentioned in Section 

5.4 there are benefits to including performance-based measures in these improvement 

contracts to enhance the value provided to GDOT. One example of this is to require the 

contractor to conduct inventory and assessment evaluations of both existing and new 

grade crossing features as part of the project scope of work. Agencies would then benefit 

from a comprehensive inventory of all pavement marking and traffic sign features at each 

crossing. All performance information and data tracking would be organized 

electronically and associated with each inventory and assessment attribute such as an 

individual RR Crossing pavement marking or traffic sign. 

Other states have incorporated this activity into the regular work flow operations of the 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

contractor. Once projects are complete agencies such as GDOT that implement this 

system then have a current and active management plan for all traffic signs at those 

improved grade crossing locations. The inventory and assessment specification 

requirements should be tailored to complement any existing GDOT system or to develop 

a completely new system thereby enabling GDOT to be compliant with FHWA standards 

at those improved crossings immediately upon completion of the contract. In addition to 

the FHWA rule for traffic signs that is in existence today, there is discussion within the 

ranks of the FHWA to also establish minimum reflectivity requirements for pavement 

markings. Establishing a single database for both pavement markings and traffic signs, 

implemented through a performance-based contract, would position GDOT ahead of any 

pending legislation for pavement markings in addition to the benefit of developing a 

comprehensive management plan for traffic signs at the time of implementing passive 

safety improvements. 
Georgia Department of Transportation State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan 

Appendix D – Georgia Amtrak Crossings 

NS Amtrak Crossings

County Gates Flashers Crossbucks Separation Private

Stephens 2 1 10

Habersham 3 13

Habersham-Banks 4 1 3

Banks-Hall 2 2

Hall 22 1 14 1

Gwinnett 40 9 1

DeKalb 10

Fulton 1 1 16 1 (+2 Seps)

Cobb 6 7 1

Douglas 24 1 2

Carroll 12 1

Totals 116 0 7 82 7

CSXT Amtrak Crossings 

County Gates Flashers Crossbucks Separation Private

Effingham S-Line 13 1 2 1 3

Chatham S-Line 2 3 3

S-Line Subtotal 15 1 5 4 3

Silver Star operates on the S-Line north of Central Jct, and the A-Line south of Central Jct

All other Amtrak trains operate on the A-Line. (Note that the pair of Palmetto trains operate only 

as far south as Savannah on the A-Line.)

Chatham A-Line 

North of Central Jct 7 0 0 9 1

Chatham A-Line 

South of Central Jct 2 1 9

Bryan 4 2

Liberty 5 2 1 2

Long 3 1 1

Wayne 11 1 2 7

Brantley 6 9 2

Charlton 5 1 3 3

A-Line South of 

Central Jct Subtotal 36 0 14 17 15

A-Line Route Totals 43 0 14 26 16

S-Line & A-Line S. of Central

Jct Route Totals (Silver Star) 51 1 19 21 18
A P P E N D I X E-1 - Age and Gender of Drivers and Pedestrian Involved in Grade Crossing Crashes and Incidents 
No ages were reported for approximately one-third of pedestrians involved in crashes. The apparent trend of increasing age of 

pedestrians involved in crash may not be significant in that there are relatively few crashes involving pedestrians at crossings, and 

average age may be significantly affected by one event. For instance, the 2004 spike to 63 years average age was based on two crashes 

involving an 80 year old and a 46 year old. The 2006 dip to 26 years old was based on the age of the one pedestrian in one crash. 

Year Ending In
The average age of drivers involved in Georgia crossing crashes over the course of the 2001-2010 period seems to be 

increasing well in excess of the increase in age of the driving population in Georgia. The median age of Georgia residents increased 

by nearly two years between 2000 and 2010 from 33.4 years to 35.3 years. The five year rolling average driver age (based on crashes 

where driver age was reported) of Georgia drivers involved in crossing crashes increased from 38 years to 42 years in the shorter 

2005-2010 time period. Male drivers accounted for slightly over three-quarters of the drivers involved in crossing crashes. The 

fraction of drivers involved in crashes that are male generally increases with driver age, except for drivers 75 years old and older, 

reflecting the longer life expectancy of women. 

The average age of drivers involved in Georgia crossing crashes in the 2001-2010 period increased for multiple reasons. Most 

importantly there has been a large reduction in the number crashes involving drivers less than 25 years of age. There has also been a 

smaller reduction in the number of crashes involving drivers between the ages 25 and 54 inclusive. The number of crashes involving 

drivers 55 years old and older increased from 2001 to 2005 and then decreased from 2006 to 2010, ending the decade at approximately 

the same number of crashes as in 2001. 

Georgia enacted legislation in 1997 (Teenage and Adult Driver Responsibility Act, TADRA), 2001, and 2005 (Joshua’s Law) 

that significantly increased driver education requirements for drivers less than 18 years of age, and imposed restrictions on passengers 

for drivers under the age of 18. 16 year old driver’s license applicants currently must complete a driver’s education course with 

30 hours of classroom study and 6 hours of behind the wheel training, complete at least 40 hours of supervised driving, and pass a 

comprehensive on-the-road driving test. 17 years old driver’s licence applicants currently must complete at least 40 hours of 

supervised driving and pass a comprehensive on-the-road driving test. The Georgia legislation imposes a midnight to 6am curfew on 

Class D (less than 18 year old) licensees. The legislation may have contributed to fewer crossing crashes for drivers less than 19 years 

of age over the 2001-2010 period. It may also have contributed to significantly fewer crashes for drivers 19-24 years of age as 

evidenced by a reduction in crossings crashes trailing the dates of the legislation and improvement of 16-18 year old driver crossing 

crash experience by a few years. 

Even with recent improvement, drivers less than 25 years of age experience significantly higher numbers of crashes that those 

in the 25-54 age group that have experience relatively equal numbers of crashes by age. The number of crashes by those over age 55 

decreases rapidly around age 60, reflecting less driving by the retired. 
A P P E N D I X E-2 - Short Line Railroad and Amtrak Crashes 
A P P E N D I X E-3 - Crashes by Year, Type of Warning Device and Railroad 
Instructions for Reporting School Bus Use 

of Highway-Railroad Crossings in Georgia 

Prepared by the Georgia Department of Transportation, Office of Utilities 

for the Georgia Department of Education 

Last revised: 21 October 2011

Purpose. Georgia state law requires that school districts report school bus use of 

highway-railroad grade crossings not equipped with active warning devices (flashing lights, or 

flashing lights and gates) to the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) no later than 

September 1 of each year. GDOT and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) seek 

information on school bus use of crossings equipped with active warning devices as well. 

GDOT requests that school district report school bus use of crossings equipped with active 

warning devices every five years in years ending in zero and five, i.e. 2015, 2020, 2025 etc. 

GDOT will provide the information to FRA. This document has been prepared to provide for 

uniform reporting of school bus use of crossings by school districts. 

The reporting of school bus use of crossings applies only to established school bus 

routes. Established school bus routes for the purpose of reporting bus use of crossings are bus 

routes that transport pupils between residences and schools in the morning, midday in the case 

of regular one-half day schooling, or afternoon. Established school bus routes include routes 

that regularly transport pupils between one school and another, or regularly transport pupils 

between schools and other venues, such as vocational or special education bus routes. 

Established school bus routes include routes that transport pre-school pupils if such routes are 

operated by school districts. Infrequent, irregular, impromptu, or ad hoc school bus use of 

crossings, such as pupil transportation in connection with field trips, athletic events, or 

extracurricular activities, should not be reported. 

Quantified School Bus Use of Crossings. Each operation of a school bus over a 

crossing shall be counted as one school bus use of the crossing. A bus route that crosses in only 

one direction one time per day shall be counted as one school bus use of the crossing. A bus 

route that crosses once in the morning and once again in the afternoon shall be counted as two 

school bus uses of the crossing. A bus route that crosses over and back in the morning, and over 

and back in the afternoon, shall be counted as four school bus uses of the crossing. The total 

number of school buses using a crossing is the sum of the numbers of crossing uses of each of 

the bus routes using the crossing. The total number of school buses using the crossing for the 

three routes described above is 7 (one for the first route, plus two for the second route, plus four 

for the third route). 

School bus use of crossings shall be reported as the average number of buses using a 

crossing on a typical school day rounded up to the nearest whole number if applicable. A 

vocational bus route transporting pupils between schools that operates once in the morning and 

once in the afternoon three days per week would equal 1.2 daily school buses uses of the 

crossing (2 operations times 3 days per week divided by 5 days per school week = 1.2). A 

vocational bus route that operates once in the morning and back in the afternoon once a week 

equals 0.4 school bus uses of the crossing. The total number of school buses using the crossing 

for the two vocational routes described above is two. (1.2 for the first route, plus 0.4 for the 

second route =1.6, which when rounded up to the nearest whole number is reported as 2. Round 

up the sum of the fractional uses of crossings, do not round up each fraction and then sum.) 
Instructions for Reporting School Bus Use of Highway-Railroad Crossings in Georgia 

Last revised 29 August 2011 Page 2 

Reporting. School districts are required to report the name or road designation (state 

route or county route number), USDOT crossing identification number (Appendix A), and the 

number of buses using grade crossings. Note that school districts shall report use of crossings in 

another county or state if applicable. 

GDOT requests that the districts report the railroad, both the road name and designation 

if known, and the type of crossing warning devices when reporting a mixture of active and 

passive crossings, to insure the crossing is correctly identified. GDOT also requests that 

districts distinguish between buses with pupils and empty buses (no pupils on board) using 

crossings. 

In the case of crossings not equipped with active warning devices, GDOT requests the 

district report the number of additional buses carrying pupils that would use a crossing if it were 

equipped with active warning devices. This request recognizes that state law requires school 

districts to use best efforts to minimize the number of school buses using grade crossings not 

equipped with active warning devices. GDOT will use the information to consider installation 

of active warning at passive crossings that would be used by school buses, or used by greater 

numbers of school buses, if the crossing were equipped with active warning devices. (Do not 

include the number of buses currently using the crossing, and do not include additional buses 

that would use the crossing but not in the transportation of pupils, in reporting that latter 

number.) 

GDOT will provide school districts lists of crossings by county to assist in the reporting 

of school bus use of crossings. The crossings will be listed in geographical order along rail lines 

within the county. These lists may be used to report school bus use of crossings. A sample list 

of crossings is included in these instructions. Alternately the blank form that follows the sample 

form may be used to report school bus use of crossings. 

School districts wholly located within counties where there are no actively operating 

railroads and that do not use passive crossings in adjacent counties, and school districts within 

counties that have active railroads but where school buses do not use passive crossings, are 

requested to submit a document that reports no use of crossings. The following Georgia 

counties of as August 8, 2011 do not have active railroads: 

Baker Heard Pulaski 

Chattahoochee (inactive GSWR) Lincoln Rabun 

Clay Lumpkin Stewart (inactive HOG RR)

Dawson McIntosh Towns 

Forsyth Oglethorpe Union 

Harris Pike White 

Mail completed tables to: 

Mr. Jeff Baker, P.E. 

GDOT State Utilities Engineer 

600 W. Peachtree Street, 10th floor 

Atlanta, GA 30308 

Contact Key Phillips by telephone at 404-631-1376, or by e-mail at kphillips@dot.ga.gov with 

any questions. 
Instructions for Reporting School Bus Use of Highway-Railroad Crossings in Georgia 

Last revised 29 August 2011 

S A M P L E

CSX Transportation (CSXT) – Crossings listed from Fulton County south to Meriwether County (1 of 2)

City

(Locale) Road Name 1 Route USDOT 

ID

RR

 Milepost

(ANB) 2

Warning 

Devices 3

School bus use 4

Buses with 

pupils on 

board

Empty 

buses 

(no pupils 

on board)

If equipped 

with active 

warning 

devices 5

(Bethany) Milam Road CR59 639501Y 840.33 Gates

Coast Line Road CR61 639500S 839.78 Underpass

Estate Farm Private 639499A 839.06

Sandy Creek Road CR365 639498T 838.35 Cant Gates

Jenkins Road CR75 639497L 837.90 Overpass

Hanson Materials Branch – east side of main track

Tyrone Joel Cowen Parkway SR74 640192K 836.95 Cant gates

Tyrone Hanson Materials Private 926196G 836.95

Tyrone Swanson Road CR72 639495X 837.69 Gates

Tyrone Handley Road CS557 639494R 836.50 Gates

Tyrone Joel Cowen Parkway SR74 643042M 836.34 Overpass

Tyrone Tyrone Road CR358 639493J 836.08 Gates

Tyrone Valleywood Road CS556 639492C 835.30 Crossbucks

Tyrone East Crestwood Road CS551 639491V 834.94 Gates

Tyrone Senoia Rd (Old SR74) CR480 639489U 834.13 Gates

Tyrone Farm / Sgl Family Res Private 639488M 833.79

Tyrone Property Access Private 639487F 833.54

Rock Spur– west side of main track

Tyrone Shamrock Industrial Blvd CS639 926199C 833.13 Crossbucks

Tyrone Georgia Masonry Supply Private 926198V 833.13

Tyrone Rockwood Road CR87 926200U 832.83

X

Tyrone Rockwood Road CR87 639482W 833.10 Gates

Peachtree City Wilk Grove Baptist Ch. Private 639481P 832.21

Peachtree City Property Access Private 639480H 832.00

See next page for table notes. 
Instructions for Reporting School Bus Use of Highway-Railroad Crossings in Georgia 

Last revised 29 August 2011 

S A M P L E

CSX Transportation (CSXT) – Crossings listed from Fulton County south to Meriwether County (Continued)

City

(Locale) Road Name 1 Route USDOT 

ID

RR

 Milepost

(ANB) 2

Warning 

Devices 3

School bus use 4

Buses with 

pupils on 

board

Empty 

buses 

(no pupils 

on board)

If equipped 

with active 

warning 

devices 5

Peachtree City Comcast and access Private 639479N 831.54

Peachtree City Floy Farr Parkway SR54 639471J 829.84 Overpass

Paschall Lead Track– west side of main track

Peachtree City Huddleston Road CS327 640075P 829.25 Crossbucks

Peachtree City Paschall Company Private 640076W 829.25

Peachtree City Paschall Road CS320 639470C 829.13 Gates

Peachtree City Kelly Drive CS490 639469H 828.43 Gates

Peachtree City TDK Boulevard CS597 643041F 827.43 Overpass

Peachtree City Peachtree City W&S Private 639468B 827.14

Peachtree City Dividend Drive CS322 639467U 826.72 Gates

Write in below any public crossings along the railroad line that are not included above, and/or any grade crossings along the line that are located in adjacent Fulton or 

Meriwether Counties, that are used by school buses. Please strike through any crossings above that have been closed.

1 Private crossings are highlighted gray. Spur track or branch line crossings are in italic font, and branch lines or spur tracks with multiple crossings are identified and 

enclosed by colored rows.

2 Milepost prefix letters. 

3 Crossbucks = no active warning devices. Flashers = flashing lights. Gates = flashing lights and gates. Cant flashers = cantilevered (over road) flashing lights. Cant 

gates = Cantilevered flashing lights and gates. It is requested that bus use of crossings equipped with active warning devices be reported in years ending in zero and five. 

4 Indicate “Ø” if crossing is not used by school buses. 

5 Indicate the estimated number of additional buses with pupils on board that would use crossing if the crossing were equipped with active warning devices (i.e. flashing 

lights or flashing lights and gates). Do not include additional empty buses, or any school buses with pupils on board currently using the crossing. 

Submitted by: ___________________________ (signature) Mail to: Mr. Jeff Baker, P.E. 

 ___________________________ (print name) GDOT State Utilities Engineer 

 ___________________________ (school district) 600 W. Peachtree Street, 10th floor 

 ___________________________ (title) Atlanta, GA 30308 

Phone number: ___________________________ Questions: Key Phillips, 404-631-1376, kphillips@dot.ga.gov
School Bus Use of Highway-Railroad Crossings in Georgia - O.C.G.A.§ 32-6-200 (d) (2) 

School District: ___________________________ Date: _______________________ Page 1 of _____ 

Street, Road or Highway Name Road No. 1 USDOT ID 2 Railroad Warning 

Devices 3

School bus use 4

Buses 

with 

pupils on 

board

Empty 

buses 

(no pupils 

on board)

If equipped 

with active 

warning 

devices 5

(optional)

1 Abbreviations: CS = City Street, CR = County Road, SR = State Route, US = United States Route. Examples: CS867, CR15, SR120, US82. 

2 See Appendix A for information about crossing USDOT IDs. 

3 Most sophisticated types of warning device: gates, flashing lights and signs = gates, flashing lights and signs = flashers, signs (crossbucks, and/or stop or yield signs only) = Signs, 

or “none” if no warning devices are present. (Gates are the most sophisticated type of warning device, flashing lights are less sophisticated, and signs are the least sophisticated 

type of device. A crossing equipped with gates, flashing lights, and signs shall be reported as “gates”. A crossing equipped with flashing lights and signs shall be reported as 

“flashers”. A crossing not equipped with active warning devices shall be reported as “signs”, or if warning signs are not present, “none”. It is requested that bus use of crossings 

equipped with active warning devices be reported in years ending in zero and five. 

4 Indicate the estimated number of additional buses with pupils on board that would use crossing if the crossing were equipped with active warning devices (i.e. flashing lights or 

flashing lights and gates). Do not include additional empty buses, or any school buses with pupils on board currently using the crossing. 

5 Indicate the estimated number of additional buses with pupils on board that would use crossing if the crossing were equipped with active warning devices (i.e. flashing lights or 

flashing lights and gates). Do not include additional empty buses, or any school buses with pupils on board currently using the crossing. 

Submitted by: ___________________________ (signature) Mail to: Mr. Jeff Baker, P.E. 

 ___________________________ (print name) GDOT State Utilities Engineer 

 ___________________________ (title) 600 W. Peachtree Street, 10th floor 

Phone number: ___________________________ Atlanta, GA 30308 

Questions: Key Phillips, 404-631-1376 , kphillips@dot.ga.gov 
School Bus Use of Highway-Railroad Crossings in Georgia – O.C.G.A.§ 32-6-200 (d) (2) 

School District: _________________________ Date: ______________________ Page ____ of _____ 

Street, Road or Highway Name Road No. 1 USDOT ID 2 Railroad Warning 

Devices 3

School bus use 4

Buses 

with 

pupils on 

board

Empty 

buses 

(no pupils 

on board)

If equipped 

with active 

warning 

devices 5

(optional)

See Page 1 for table notes. 

It is not necessary to submit a second page if all crossings used by school buses may be identified on one page. Include additional pages as necessary. 
Instructions for Reporting School Bus Use of Highway-Railroad Crossings in Georgia 

Last revised: 29 August 2011 

APPENDIX A - Crossing Identification

There are approximately 5,300 public 

highway-railroad grade crossings in Georgia. Norfolk 

Southern (NS) with approximately 2,400 Georgia public 

grade crossings, and CSX Transportation (CSXT) with 

approximately 1,500 crossings, are the two principal 

railroads in Georgia. Various short line railroads account 

for the remaining approximately 1,400 public grade 

crossings. All crossings, including private road crossings 

and railroad overpasses or underpasses, are identified by a 

unique six digit-one letter USDOT identification number 

(USDOT ID). 638212U, 729388G, 638228R and 279604D 

(photos below) are examples of USDOT IDs. The number 

portions of USDOT IDs are generally sequential along a 

railroad line. There may be abrupt changes in numerical 

sequence, or USDOT IDs that are out of numerical 

sequence however. 

Grade crossings are required to have an 

Emergency Notification Sign (ENS) posted at the crossing. 

The ENS identifies the crossing, and provides an 

emergency notification telephone number. ENS at Georgia 

crossings are typically a fiberglass material sign that is 

attached to a crossbuck signpost, or a flashing light, or 

flashing light and gate signal mast or signal post. 

(Crossbuck is the name commonly applied to the X-shaped 

sign that has the legend “RAILROAD CROSSING” in 

black letters on a white background, that is displayed at 

crossings.) A generic ENS is shown at upper left. 

When there is no ENS, the USDOT ID may 

sometimes be determined from a metal plate attached 

to a crossbuck signpost, or a flashing light, or 

flashing light and gate signal mast or post. The 

USDOT ID may also sometimes be found on a 

railroad signal equipment case or housing at the 

crossing. 

Note that the USDOT ID metal plates are 

not updated when there is a change in railroad 

ownership, and thus may indicate a predecessor 

railroad (for example “SCL” for Seaboard Coast 

Line, a CSXT predecessor, see plate below). ENS 

however are supposed to be changed to reflect the 

current railroad operator (note ENS may not be 

current if the railroad operator has recently changed). 

Photographs of the ENS commonly used at NS and 

CSXT crossings, a USDOT ID plate, and USDOT ID 

as identified on a railroad equipment housing, are 

shown below.

Older version CSXT Emergency Notification Sign (ENS) 

USDOT Crossing Identification Plate 

(former Seaboard Coast Line - SCL) 

Older version NS Emergency Notification Sign 

USDOT ID (279604D) on signal equipment enclosure 
Instructions for Reporting School Bus Use of Highway-Railroad Crossings in Georgia 

Last revised: 29 August 2011 

APPENDIX B – Georgia Code 

The reporting of school bus use of highway-railroad grade crossings by school districts to 

GDOT is required per Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A.) § 32-6-200 (d) (2) [per 

HB426 signed by Governor Perdue May 5, 2008, and effective January 1, 2009], and indirectly 

by the federal Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-432, H.R.2095 / S.1889). 

O.C.G.A. § 32-6-200 (d) (2) states: “Each local school district in this state shall survey 

its established school bus routes annually and submit to the Department of Transportation a list 

identifying each rail crossing that does not have active warning devices on an established bus 

route. Each local school district shall be required to submit this information to the department 

each year by no later than September 1.” 

Active warning devices, as mentioned parenthetically in the forgoing instructions, are 

crossings equipped with automatic flashing lights, or automatic flashing lights and gates and 

usually are equipped with a bell or bells. 

The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 requires that GDOT periodically update the 

USDOT National Crossing Inventory database. The USDOT National Crossing Inventory 

database includes the number of school buses using public grade crossings, including crossings 

equipped with active warning devices. It is therefore necessary that school districts provide 

information concerning the numbers of buses using all grade crossings, and not simply identify 

crossings that are not equipped with active warning devices that are used by school buses as 

required by O.C.G.A. § 32-6-200 (d) (2). 

O.C.G.A. § 32-6-200 (d) (4) states: “The department [GDOT] shall use the information 

about school bus routes as an important factor in selecting rail crossings to upgrade with active 

warning devices.” 

School bus use of crossings is a very important, and often the single most important 

factor used by GDOT when prioritizing installation of active warning devices, or active warning 

device improvements. Other important criteria used by GDOT for prioritizing installation of 

active warning device improvements are crossing crash history, and train and highway traffic 

volume and speed, and sight distance from the highway along the railroad. An order of 

magnitude cost for installation of flashing lights and gates is $250,000, though installation costs 

may vary widely with specific circumstances. 

O.C.G.A. § 32-6-200 (d) (3) states: “Each local school district shall exercise best efforts 

to minimize the number of established school bus routes that cross rail crossings that do not 

have active warning devices.” 

The presumption is that school districts establish bus routes that avoid crossings that are 

not equipped with active warning devices, or establish routes that use such crossings less than 

would be the case than if the crossings were equipped with active warning devices. GDOT thus 

requests information about potential school bus use of crossings if active warning devices were 

to be installed at crossings that are note currently equipped with active warning devices. The 

potential use of crossing information allows GDOT to consider reductions in pupil transportation 

expenses for school districts and reductions in pupil time-in-transit when prioritizing crossings 

for active warning device installation. 
Instructions for Reporting School Bus Use of Highway-Railroad Crossings in Georgia 

Last revised 29 August 2011 

APPENDIX C – Attendance Zones Changes 

Changes in school attendance zones, whether or not the changes involve new schools, 

may significantly alter school bus routes and hence the number of school buses using crossings. 

The process of examining crossings for active warning device improvements or installation of 

active warning devices through analysis, design and installation of the new or improved warning 

devices typically requires approximately one year. 

The September 1 school bus use of crossing reporting date requirement typically occurs 

shortly before or just after new attendance zones and hence bus route changes have been 

implemented. Considering the one year active warning device construction process, GDOT 

requests that school districts inform GDOT well in advance of tentative and significant 

school bus use of crossings that are not currently used by school buses, or significant 

increases in school bus use of crossings, for those crossings that are not currently equipped 

with active warning devices, or are equipped with only flashing lights and not flashing 

lights and gates. Advance notice of one year, or preferably 18 months, to GDOT enables 

GDOT to examine the crossings and if necessary program installation of active warning device 

improvements so that the installation would be completed prior to the beginning of new or 

increased school bus use of crossings. 

GDOT understands that precise numbers of buses using a non-active warning device 

crossing may not be available until a few months before the attendance zone change becomes 

effective. An order of magnitude estimate of school bus use of non-active warning device 

crossings by the school district is sufficient for GDOT to analyze crossings. 

Key Phillips 

Railroad Crossing Program Manager 

404-631-1376 

kphillips@dot.ga.gov

is the GDOT contact person to report such information, and is the contact person concerning the 

railroad crossing safety program in general. 
Instructions for Reporting School Bus Use of Highway-Railroad Crossings in Georgia 

Last revised 29 August 2011 

APPENDIX D – Emergencies at Railroad Crossings 

Note the railroad may be directly telephoned at the telephone number on the ENS at the crossing. 

Consideration should be given to telephoning the railroad prior to 911, or immediately afterward, in event 

of emergencies at or very near a crossing where stopping trains that may be approaching the crossing is 

absolutely the most important immediate concern. (Contacting the railroad directly eliminates the small 

delay in 911 personnel relaying crossing location and emergency information to the railroad.) Be 

prepared to report the crossing USDOT ID (six digits and one letter) and any other crossing identification 

information on the ENS such as crossing name or milepost to the railroad if such information is available. 

APPENDIX E – Georgia Railroad Abbreviations 

Abbreviation Railroad Counties where small railroads are located are provided at left 

ABR The Athens Line LLC Jackson, Clarke and Oconee 

CHAT Chattahochee Bay Railroad (Hilton-Dothan, AL) Early (No public xings in GA) 

CIRR Chattahoochee Industrial Railroad Early 

CCKY Chattooga and Chickamauga Railroad Walker and Chattooga 

CSXT CSX Transportation 

FCRD First Coast Railroad, Inc (formerly part of CSXT) Camden 

FCR Fulton County Railroad (formerly part of CSXT) Fulton 

GFRR Georgia and Florida Railway (five lines, 

Valdosta-Willacoochee, Adel-Foley, FL, Albany-Sparks, 

Albany-Sylvester, Albany-Thomasville) 

GC Georgia Central Railway LP (Savannah-Macon) 

GNRR Georgia Northeastern Railroad Co. (Marietta-TN) Cobb, Cherokee, Pickens, 

Gilmer and Fannin 

GSWR Georgia Southwestern Railroad, Inc. (three lines, 

Columbus-Americus, Smithville-Eufaula, AL, 

Cuthbert-Bainbridge) 

GWRC Georgia Woodlands Railroad Taliaferro and Wilkes 

GITM Golden Isles Terminal Railroad Glynn and Chatham 

GS Georgia Southern (three lines Dover-Metter, Bulloch and Candler, 

Midville-Kirby & Roberta-Ft. Valley- Perry) Burke and Emanuel, 

(formerly Georgia Midlands and prior to Ogeechee Ry) Crawford, Peach & Houston 

GRWR Great Walton Railroad Co. Walton and Jasper 

HRT Hartwell Railroad Co. Stephens, Franklin, Hart & Elbert 

HOG Heart of Georgia Railroad, Inc. Vidalia-Plains) 

LW Louisville and Wadley Railway Company (inactive) Jefferson 

NS Norfolk Southern Corporation 

ORC Ogeechee Railroad Company Effingham and Screven 

RSOR Riceboro Southern Railway Co. LLC Bryan and Liberty 

SAN Sandersville Railroad Company Washington 

SAPT Savannah Port Terminal Railroad Chatham 

SCS Squaw Valley Southern Jasper, Morgan & Newton (Newborn) 

SM St. Marys Railroad Camden 

SMW St. Marys Railway West LLC Ware and Atkinson 

VRY Valdosta Railway LP Lowndes