(The following report appeared on the Des Moines register on February 28.)
DES MOINES, Iowa — The Union Pacific Railroad crossing at Duff Avenue in Ames includes Iowa’s first quadrant gates, with sensors that detect the presence of a vehicle between the crossing gates and automatically delay closing the exit gate.
Jim Gibson of the Iowa Department of Transportation’s rail transportation office said the crossing sees 66 trains per day and has had 18 crashes since 1978.