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Road-Rail Grade Separations
Author: mook
Date: 03-03-2015 - 23:15
Trying to get this out of some of the other threads where general discussions really don't belong. Some thoughts....
A garden-variety grade separation - 4-lane road over rail, an "overhead" - costs about $25 million. You can do it for less, perhaps even for a little as $10-15m, but only with no complications and perhaps only a 2-lane road. More complicated ones in major urban areas easily hit $50m and $100m isn't unheard-of. But let's take $25m as some kind of average.
That's 4 separations per $100m; around 40 per $billion (thousand million).
How many grade crossings are there on a line like SP's Coast between Santa Barbara and LA? That's a research question - spending some time with FRA's database should provide an answer, at least for the public crossings. Assuming the above costs (probably optimistic, because more would be on the high side than on the low, especially between Chatsworth and LA), how many billion$ would it take to fully separate just that line? And that's just an example: there are several other Metrolink lines to think about, plus other commuter systems, Amtrak, and some of the busier parts of the freight railroads.
While a lot of those separations are probably necessary, do we need general rail lines fully separated? Some countries have that for main lines, but we don't - it'a mostly a retrofit job. HSR by its nature must be fully separated - and that (along with the overall design needed for the high speeds) is a major piece of the seemingly excessive cost. But unless it's convenient to combine the line with a freeway (as for large bits of the UP San Joaquin Valley line along Hwy 99) it's hard to justify grade-separating a general freight line or even an ordinary passenger line.
The current Federal grade separation program is one of the most underfunded parts of the overall highway program. But even if somebody wanted to throw a Defense program's money at the problem, the cost simply would burn the money in no time. So prioritizing (yes, including placing a value on the number of historic and projected wrecks and deaths) is necessary. And areas that have a dedicated local transportation tax are more competitive for the funding that does exist because they don't have to fight with the rest of the state for local match.
Just some random, semi-realistic thoughts on the subject. Flame on!
A garden-variety grade separation - 4-lane road over rail, an "overhead" - costs about $25 million. You can do it for less, perhaps even for a little as $10-15m, but only with no complications and perhaps only a 2-lane road. More complicated ones in major urban areas easily hit $50m and $100m isn't unheard-of. But let's take $25m as some kind of average.
That's 4 separations per $100m; around 40 per $billion (thousand million).
How many grade crossings are there on a line like SP's Coast between Santa Barbara and LA? That's a research question - spending some time with FRA's database should provide an answer, at least for the public crossings. Assuming the above costs (probably optimistic, because more would be on the high side than on the low, especially between Chatsworth and LA), how many billion$ would it take to fully separate just that line? And that's just an example: there are several other Metrolink lines to think about, plus other commuter systems, Amtrak, and some of the busier parts of the freight railroads.
While a lot of those separations are probably necessary, do we need general rail lines fully separated? Some countries have that for main lines, but we don't - it'a mostly a retrofit job. HSR by its nature must be fully separated - and that (along with the overall design needed for the high speeds) is a major piece of the seemingly excessive cost. But unless it's convenient to combine the line with a freeway (as for large bits of the UP San Joaquin Valley line along Hwy 99) it's hard to justify grade-separating a general freight line or even an ordinary passenger line.
The current Federal grade separation program is one of the most underfunded parts of the overall highway program. But even if somebody wanted to throw a Defense program's money at the problem, the cost simply would burn the money in no time. So prioritizing (yes, including placing a value on the number of historic and projected wrecks and deaths) is necessary. And areas that have a dedicated local transportation tax are more competitive for the funding that does exist because they don't have to fight with the rest of the state for local match.
Just some random, semi-realistic thoughts on the subject. Flame on!
Road-Rail Grade Separations