[Durham INC] Study about Rail Road Crossings in Durham

[Pat Carstensen]

There was a sequence of public forums this month about the study to make the places where roads cross railroads in Durham safer.  I went looking for more information on the web.  What I found:
Minutes from presentation to INC in February 2012:















Kevin Hall talked about the Traffic Separation Study, where the “traffic” to be separated is
what is on the railroad track through town, which could be high-speed rail or
more frequent commuter rail in the future.  The options for the 18 crossing being studied are doing
nothing, closing the crossing, improving it with better marking or barriers, or
actually separating the grades of the street and the railroad.  The changes could be anywhere from
short-term (0-3 years) to long-term (7-10 years).  It is an 18-month study, kicked off with visioning workshops
in November.  Nothing is decided
yet as they are still collecting data. 
The study will consider safety (e.g., accident history), mobility and
accessibility (how much traffic there is there, for example), and social and
economic resources (funding, land-use and so on).  The one crossing people had major comments on was the Broad
Street / Swift Avenue one. John will send out the maps and comment information
to the list-serve so folks can ask their neighborhoods for their ideas and
input.



There are similar studies going on in other NC cities, with more detail on what is being proposed there.
The best information I could find on the Durham study is at http://www.durhamnc.gov/agendas_new/2012/cws20121217/8915_PRESENTATION_DURHAM_TRAFFIC_SEPARATION_319363_483869.ppt.PDF
It looks like they are looking at making BIG, BIG HILLS so the road can go over the railroad at Neal, LaSalle, Anderson, Swift/Broad, Duke, and the list goes on.  The report on the Swift/Broad crossing that we heard at the recent INC meeting was pretty scary.
Regards, pat
   		 	   		  
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