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side of the crossing.
Channelization Device – a traffic separation system made up of a raised longitudinal
channelizer with vertical panels or tubular delineators that is placed between opposing
highway traffic lanes designed to alert or guide traffic around an obstacle or to direct
traffic in a particular direction.
Closed Crossing – a location where a previous crossing no longer exists because
either the railroad tracks have been physically removed, or each pathway or roadway
approach to the crossing has been physically removed, leaving behind no intersection
of railroad tracks with either a pathway or roadway. A grade-separated highway-rail or
pathway crossing that has been physically removed is also considered a closed
crossing.
Crossing Inventory – the U.S. DOT National Highway-Rail Crossing Inventory.
Diagonal Crossing – a highway-rail crossing where the railroad tracks run diagonally
through the highway-highway intersection, thus bisecting the two roadways. Only one
Crossing Inventory Number is to be assigned to such locations.
Event Recorder – a device designed to resist tampering that monitors and records data
on information at the grade crossing location such as (but not limited to) train speed,
direction of motion, time, and distance over the most recent timeframe (e.g. last 24 or
48 hours) of the grade crossing warning system operation.
Flashing Light Pairs – two red-colored light units that flash alternately at a rate of 45 to
65 times per minute. The main components of a flashing light pair are the hood,
background, roundel, lamp, lamp holder, reflector, and housing. The background is 20
Appendix D-2
or 24 inches in diameter and is painted a nonreflecting black to provide a contrast for
the red light. The hood is also painted black.
Gate – an automatically-operated traffic control device which, when activated into a
horizontal position, is intended to physically impede users such that they are
discouraged from entering a particular grade crossing.
Two Quadrant Gates – a gate configuration featuring gates only on entrance lanes
leading on to the crossing. If a crossing does not have any gates on any exit lanes
leading off the crossing, then it is to be considered a “two-quadrant gate” crossing.
Note: A gated crossing on a one-way street is to be considered a “2 Quad” gate
configuration.
Three Quadrant Gates – a specific gate configuration featuring gates on all
entrance lanes leading on to the crossing, but with only one exit leading off the
crossing that is equipped with a gate.
Four Quadrant Gates – a specific gate configuration that features gates on all
entrance and all exit lanes at the crossing. When four quadrant gates are activated
and fully lowered, all entrance lanes and all exit lanes are blocked by gates .
Full (Barrier) Resistance Gates – a gate-like device that is specifically designed to
physically prevent a highway vehicle from entering the crossing area when the
resistance gate system is fully deployed.
Median Gates (sometimes referred to as dual entrance gates) – a supplemental
gate installation located on a roadway’s median (to the left of the travel lanes) that
works in combination with a gate installed on the outside edge of the roadway (to the
right of the travel lanes) to jointly provide blockage of multiple lanes on a single
roadway approach to the crossing, with both gate arm tips meeting (2-foot maximum
gap) in the middle.
Grade Crossing – for purposes of the Inventory, either a highway-rail grade crossing,
pathway grade crossing or pedestrian station grade crossing.
Highway-Rail Crossing – for purposes of the Crossing Inventory, the location where
one or more railroad tracks intersect with a public highway, road, street, or private
roadway, either at-grade or grade-separated, including associated sidewalks.
A crossing includes those tracks that lie within the same pair of warning devices. Thus,
an intersection of a roadway with 3 tracks (2 mainline and 1 spur) where the mainline
tracks have flashing lights and the spur track has crossbucks would be considered two
crossings with two separate crossing inventory numbers. One crossing would consist of
the mainline tracks with the flashing lights and one crossing would consist of the spur
track that has crossbucks.
Appendix D-3
Highway-Rail Grade Crossing – for purposes of the Crossing Inventory, a highway-rail
crossing that is at the same grade level as the railroad tracks.
Inventory Form – the U.S. DOT Crossing Inventory Form (Form FRA F 6180.71).
Inventory Number – the number assigned to a highway-rail crossing or pathway
crossing in the Crossing Inventory.
Median – a non-traversable portion of a divided highway separating the travel ways for
traffic in opposite directions.
MUTCD – the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices published by the Federal
Highway Administration.
Open Crossing – a highway-rail crossing or pathway crossing where both railroad
operations and highway or pathway traffic are possible.
Operating Railroad – any railroad or urban rapid transit operator that operates one or
more trains through a highway-rail crossing or pathway crossing on, or connected to,
the general railroad system of transportation.
Pathway – a path for authorized users, outside the traveled way and physically
separated from the roadway by an open space or barrier and either within the highway
right-of-way or within an independent alignment. Pathways include shared-use paths,
but do not include sidewalks.
Pathway Crossing – a pathway that: (1) is explicitly authorized by a public authority or
a railroad; (2) is dedicated for the use of non-vehicular traffic including pedestrians,
bicyclists, and others, (3) is not associated with a public highway, road, or street, or a
private roadway; and (4) crosses one or more railroad tracks either at grade or gradeseparated. However, an area where pedestrians trespass, even routinely, is not
considered to be a pathway crossing.
Pathways that are contiguous with, or separate but adjacent to, highway-rail crossings
are presumed to be part of the highway-rail crossing and are not considered separate
crossings. However, pathways that are located more than 25 feet from the location
where a highway, road, or street intersects with one or more railroad tracks are
generally considered to be separate pathway crossings.
Pathway Grade Crossing - for purposes of the Crossing Inventory, a pathway crossing
that is at the same grade level as the tracks.
Pedestrian Crossing - See Pathway Crossing.
Appendix D-4
Pedestrian Station Crossing (Station, Ped.) – a pathway crossing located within a
passenger station.
Pedestrian Station Grade Crossing – a pedestrian station crossing that is at the same
grade level as the tracks.
Plant Railroad – a plant or installation that owns or leases a locomotive, uses that
locomotive to switch cars throughout the plant or installation, and is moving goods
solely for use in the facility’s own industrial processes. The plant or installation could