Introduction

The Highway-Rail Crossing Handbook—Third Edition (Handbook) is a compendium of recommended safety engineering treatments for at-grade highway-rail crossings (crossings) which summarizes current noteworthy or best practices and provides a range of options for consideration. It is an information resource to provide a unified reference document on prevalent and best practices as well as adopted standards relative to highway-rail grade crossings. The purpose of the Handbook is not to establish standards, but to provide guidance about how existing standards and recommended practices may be applied in developing safe and effective treatments for crossings. For this purpose, the Railroad-Highway Grade Crossing Handbook, Revised Second Edition , August 2007, has been updated and re-organized to showcase noteworthy practices regarding device selection, while retaining relevant background information. The Handbook is intended for use by practitioners of all levels of knowledge and experience involved with the design and management of highway ‑rail crossings. This includes: local highway agencies/authorities, municipal planners, traffic engineers, transportation planners, safety analysts, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), State Departments of Transportation (DOT), and allied regulatory commissions (including people responsible for program development, safety management, and data management sections of the applicable State agency), railroad public project managers, public safety coordinators, railroad maintenance officials, and signal designers and maintainers, law enforcement agencies and emer gency responders. Additionally, non-governmental advocates and organizations such as Operation Lifesaver, Inc.’s Authorized V olunteers, school transportation managers, commercial motor carriers, property developers and others may also benefit from sections of the Handbook. This edition of the Handbook is intended to be consistent with the 2009 edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). (1) Guidance in general use by practitioners within the industry that is not prescribed within the MUTCD has been characterized as “current practice.” If there are differences between this Handbook and the current edition of the MUTCD, then the MUTCD, Interim Approvals, and Interpretations should be followed. The Handbook is consistent with the 2013 version of the Traffic Control Devices Handbook prepared by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and also incorporates portions of the Proposed Recommended Practice for Preemption of Traffic Signals Near Railroad Crossings, which was updated in 2019 by ITE. (2,3) Additionally, the Handbook provides an update to and supersedes the Guidance on Traffic Control Devices at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings originally developed in 2002 by the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Highway/Rail Grade Crossing Technical Working Group (TWG). This update was accomplished by a task force of knowledgeable practitioners conversant with current best practices and as such the guidance provided in this Handbook supersedes the prior version. Note: This document summarizes current practices but does not set standards; practitioners are advised to check current local standards and requirements (refer to Disclaimer and Quality Assurance Statement). Users of the data provided within this document should anticipate possible variations from current information within the FRA databases, which are updated monthly.