NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Governor Don Sundquist announced on Friday that $5 million in federal and state funds is being made available to improve safety at some 750 railroad crossings used by school buses across the state, the Greenville Sun reports.
An estimated 13 such crossings are located in Greene County, state officials said on Friday.
“We believe that with these funds, and our commitment, we can make significant improvements to these highway and rail crossing locations in Tennessee,” Sundquist said during a Friday news conference at a West Nashville railroad crossing. “Many of them are similar to the Liberty Church Road crossing Polk County, where three children lost their lives almost two years ago.”
Following a March 28, 2000, crash in which a CSX train struck a Georgia School bus at a railroad crossing just across the state line in Polk County, Tenn., TDOT officials contacted all Tennessee school systems and asked them to identify school bus-railroad crossings at which passive warnings were in use, according to a press release issued by the governor’s office on Friday.
Speaking at a railroad crossing on Coley Davis Road near Nashville on Friday, the governor said that last year a school bus had a close encounter with a train at a crossing on that dead-end road.
13 Greene County Crossings
Luanne Grandinetti, a spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), said her agency about two years ago developed a list of railroad crossings used by school buses. But Grandinetti was quick to point out that the existing list of railroad crossings is being used only as “a starting point” by TDOT personnel who will review the railroad crossings over the next several months to update the list.
Grandinetti noted that efforts to improve safety at railroad crossings used by school buses are expected to begin in August after an updated crossing list is completed.
Because the available $5 million must cover the approximately 750 railroad crossings statewide that are believed to be used by school buses, she said, most of the improvements are expected to be “passive” in nature.
Although some crossings may get such things as electric warning signs and crossing gates, Grandinetti said most crossings will be improved with measures such as:
— installation of new crossing signs,
— painting railroad crossing warnings on roadway pavement ahead of crossings,
— installation, in some cases, of signs warning that drivers are approaching a railroad crossing;
— installation, in some cases, of “rumble grooves” in the pavement of roadways leading to railroad crossings that will cause vehicle tires to make noise as vehicles cross the grooved pavement and alert drivers to slow down; and
— removal of vegetation near railroad crossings to improve drivers’ views of the tracks.
Not all crossings will receive all the passive upgrades, Grandinetti said.
During Friday’s press conference, Gov. Sundquist stressed that motorists also must do their part to help ensure crossing safety.
“Even with improvements, it is ultimately motorists who can make the difference at train crossings by remembering two things: trains always have the right of way and train speeds can be deceiving,” Sundquist said. “Rail traffic is making a resurgence in transportation and trains are traveling at higher and higher speeds. We must do all we can to protect our most precious cargo, our children.”
A press release issued by the governor’s office said Tennessee has 3,429 public railroad crossings. About two-thirds of those, the release noted, do not have lights and gates or active warning devices.
All public crossings, however, do have passive warnings devices, including universal railroad crossing signs, called crossbucks, according to the news release. Some also have advance pavement markings or signs.