(The following article by Don Behm was posted on the Journal-Sentinel website on May 15.)
MILWAUKEE, Wisc. — An increasing number of vehicles on the roads in fast-growing Washington and Ozaukee counties are encountering more trains than in the past and the combination is creating unsafe conditions at 20 crossings, says a former state rail safety analyst.
Stop signs and the traditional crossbuck sign with two boards crossed are quickly becoming obsolete as the number of cars and trucks driving over tracks increases, according to David Schwengel, the former analyst who has investigated numerous crossings in the region.
Drivers frequently ignore the warning signs, choosing to drive across tracks without stopping.
“We’re getting to the point now with the population in the two counties that almost all crossings should have signal lights and many should have gates,” Schwengel said. All of the 20 crossings on the list of those with safety problems were included in response to increasing numbers of cars and trucks on the roads or more trains, he said.
Even flashing lights at crossings become obsolete when roads are widened to accommodate increased vehicle traffic, Schwengel said. The Union Pacific Railroad crossing at Ulao Road in the Village and Town of Grafton was equipped with signal lights in the 1950s when the road was two lanes and the intersection was in a rural area.
“Now it’s a four-lane urban road with the lights moved off to the side,” Schwengel said. “A driver’s view of the signal could be blocked by a vehicle on the outside lane.”
The solution there is gates, to block vehicles from crossing when a train is approaching, and lights cantilevered above the traffic lanes, Schwengel said.
The risk of collisions at busy crossings also increases where shrubs and small trees block views, he said.
A few crossings made the unsafe list also because a driver’s view of those tracks is obscured by brush. Among them are Moore Road, or Highway KK, at Port Washington, and the Highway K crossing at the Sheboygan County line.
Trimming back
On a damp morning last week, Schwengel cut willow and sumac from the southwest corner of the intersection of Hillcrest Drive and the Wisconsin Central Ltd. tracks in Addison. In addition to his role as an independent promoter of rail safety and passenger rail service, he is a volunteer with the state Department of Natural Resources and cuts brush at rail crossings on state-owned property.
This crossing, south of an elementary school and used by school buses and semi-trucks delivering materials to local businesses, is equipped only with a stop sign and crossbucks in each direction.
As Schwengel tossed branches onto a pile, a passenger car drove across the tracks without stopping. A few minutes later, the same motorist again drove through the crossing and did not stop.
What the driver did not know was that three southbound trains were approaching Addison. Several Wisconsin Central workers already had moved off the tracks for their own safety and were waiting for the trains to pass so that they could resume welding repairs on the track.
Shortly after 10 a.m. that day, one southbound train created a breeze strong enough to sway shrubs as it sped south.
“The number and speed of trains on this line really requires flashing lights and automatic gates be installed here,” Schwengel said, referring to a report he wrote last year for the Office of the Commissioner of Railroads. His job as a limited-term employee with the agency ended last October.
The agency, however, is considering closing the Hillcrest Drive crossing, said Tom Running, a rail safety analyst. Four train-vehicle collisions have been reported at the crossing since 1973, the most recent in 1996.
Running was not surprised by a report of a motorist driving across the busy tracks without stopping.
“Stop signs seem to become invisible to motorists after they’ve been there awhile,” he said. “By not stopping, drivers are taking a horrendous chance.”
Safety check
Washington County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Dale Schmidt said the railroad commissioner’s office contacts the department frequently for an opinion on the safety of specific crossings.
Both the Sheriff’s Department and the Allenton Fire Department are opposed to the closing of Hillcrest Drive, Schmidt said. One reason is that Hillcrest provides an alternate route around the south side of Allenton for emergency vehicles if Highway 33 is ever closed at the crossing there.
More than 30 freight trains a day rush across Washington County at speeds of 50 miles per hour or more on the Wisconsin Central tracks through Addison, Slinger and Richfield.
This rail line is part of Canadian National’s “iron interstate” connecting Vancouver, British Columbia to New Orleans, said State Railroad Commissioner Rodney Kreunen.
There were only about six trains a day on these same tracks when Wisconsin Central bought the rail line from the former Soo Line in 1987, Kreunen said.
Activity on the line quickly increased and Canadian National bought Wisconsin Central in 2001. The number of trains on the line is expected to rise again in the next several years, he said.
This line carries the greatest volume of rail freight traffic through the Milwaukee region to Chicago. Along the way, Canadian National trains also encounter communities with the greatest amount of urban growth in the region – from western Washington County through Waukesha County down to Racine and Kenosha counties, Kreunen said.
One other crossing in the Town of Addison, at Aurora Road north of Highway K, likely merits closing, Schmidt said. Aurora Road and the driveway of a gravel and sand mine meet at the rail line.
“It is a dangerous intersection,” he said. Three years ago, the driver of a dump truck ignored flashing lights at the crossing as he drove the vehicle onto the tracks and collided with a train. He died from injuries received in the crash.
The Canadian National track is one of four rail lines in the two counties.
Another four trains each day flow slowly through Germantown to Slinger and Hartford on a Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co. track.
Wisconsin Central tracks connecting West Bend to Milwaukee carry no more than four trains a day.
Union Pacific Railroad runs as many as six trains a day through Mequon and Port Washington. Most northbound cars carry coal to an electrical power plant in Sheboygan.
Collision course
The 20 crossings with safety problems are scattered throughout Washington and Ozaukee counties.
A steady flow of traffic on Grand Ave. in downtown Port Washington crosses the Union Pacific track. Lights on a cantilevered arm warn drivers of an approaching train, but there are no gates to block passage.
Seven train-vehicle collisions were reported here since 1973.
But this crossing, the busiest in Port Washington, is not a high priority for upgrading because only six trains use it per day and they travel at no more than 30 miles per hour, Running said.
“In setting priorities we consider numerous factors and one of them is exposure,” he said, referring to the risk of a collision. “To determine exposure, we take the number of trains and multiply that by the number of vehicles and that indicates the risk.”
“So, the crossings with 30 trains a day traveling at 60 miles per hour” will become a priority for improving crossing safety measures, Running said.
Though Schwengel’s report on the crossing recommends gates, such an upgrade will continue to be reviewed each year as the railroad commissioner’s office determines how to spend limited funds, Running said.
It costs between $100,000 and $125,000 to equip a crossing with gates, flashing lights and other measures.
About $2.7 million in federal funds and another $1.7 million in state funds are available each year to pay for the upgrades, Kreunen said. Generally, the federal funds pay about 75% of the cost. Communities or state funds pay the remaining 25% of costs.
The railroad commissioner’s office has ordered flashing lights and gates to be installed this summer at three Wisconsin Central crossings in Richfield – at Willow Creek, Bark Lake and Pleasant Hill roads, Running said. The track crossing at Lakeview Road in Richfield remains under study for closing.