Transportation agencies wishing to close at-grade crossings or 

implement safety upgrades on a corridor may face challenges in 

addressing the concerns of the communities that live and work 

along that corridor. Listening to communities and giving residents 

the authority to decide what and where to implement changes can 

both improve safety as well as enhance the public’s relationship 

with the DOT.

Source iStockphoto.com 

EMPOWERING THE COMMUNITY TO ACHIEVE CONSENSUS 

Noteworthy Practice

Rail Corridor Crossing Consolidation and Safety Improvement Project in Missouri

A 19-mile rail corridor in Southwest Missouri has one of the highest incident rates in the State and has been a top 

safety priority for Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) and BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) for nearly 

two decades. This rural corridor with 29 at-grade crossings experienced 62 incidents since 1975, including 14 

fatalities and 19 injuries. Since 2010, 7 near-misses and 12 broken gates have been reported. Many citizens who 

live in communities along the corridor use these crossings to access other sections of their towns and were initially 

resistant to crossing closures. 

After years of unsuccessful attempts to reach a consensus on a solution, MoDOT 

realized it would need to take a new approach that would not only improve safety, 

but also fully address residents’ concerns. As a result, in January 2017 the agency 

commissioned a rail corridor safety study to:

• Evaluate all rail-highway crossings within the corridor.

• Provide streamlined solutions to increase safety.

• Deploy a public input process that would bring about community support for

effective, collaborative consolidation and safety improvement recommendations.

To oversee the public input process, MoDOT hired a consultant to act as a neutral third 

party. The consultant’s approach was to listen to the citizens’ perspectives and then 

obtain buy-in by letting the community suggest solutions that would address the safety 

concerns identified. The process began with listening sessions in each community. 

A vital element 

of this process 

involved proactive 

stakeholder 

outreach with 

local emergency 

responders, schools, 

businesses, and 

elected leadership 

within the corridor.
E M P O W E R I N G T H E C O M M U N I T Y T O A C H I E V E C O N S E N S U S 

FHWA-SA-18-073

http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov

“During meeting one, there was purposely 

no proposal from us,” said MoDOT Rail Safety 

Specialist Jack Wright, noting that the consultant 

urged attendees to offer their own ideas about 

what the problems were and how to solve them. 

During the second meeting, the consultant 

provided a list of options MoDOT developed 

based on the problems and potential solutions 

the community had identified during the first 

meeting. Each alternative also included the 

results of a benefit-cost analysis. The consultant U.S. Highway 60 runs parallel to the rail corridor and 

serves as a vital arterial for three rural communities. Due 

to the location of the BNSF Cherokee Rail, passenger, 

commercial, and emergency vehicles must cross the 

railroad to access either the western or eastern parts of 

their communities.

presented each option and let the community 

vote on them. A third meeting was then held 

to convey the results and explain how MoDOT 

planned to proceed.

“The one big surprise coming out of these 

meetings was that the communities along 

the corridor did not vote for the no-closure 

option,”noted Larry Scheperle, MoDOT Rail 

Safety Specialist, adding that it was evident the 

community was hearing the safety message.

The MoDOT Rail Section attributed the success of 

this effort to the decision to bring in an outside 

consultant to act as an impartial facilitator. “If 

you have an area where the communities are 

not responsive to an agency’s standard means 

or methods [of implementing improvements], 

find a neutral party and go through this process 

to let them act as an intermediary,” advises Chris 

Brownell, MoDOT Railroad Projects Manager. “Just 

share the facts. Tell them, ‘We have funding to 

improve this. Can we do this together?’”

Along with a funding contribution of nearly $1 

million from BNSF, MoDOT has committed to fund 

roughly half the cost of the estimated $5 million in 

corridor improvement projects. The rail crossing 

safety benefits identified by the study, combined 

with strong public consensus for the projects, 

led MoDOT to prioritize the whole corridor 

project that included five crossing closures and 

four crossing upgrades. To fund the remainder, 

the agency submitted a grant application to the 

Federal Railroad Administration. 

When complete, the five proposed closures 

along with the upgrades and site improvements 

throughout the corridor will allow for 23 fewer 

crashes, with 1.41 fewer fatal crashes, 7 fewer 

injury crashes, and 15 fewer non-injury crashes 

over a 25-year period as compared with the 

baseline estimates. 

As a result of this success, the MoDOT Rail Section 

is considering using this approach at another 

location along a similar length of railroad to 

engage the small rural communities along 

the corridor in building a consensus for 

safety improvements.