TRANSACTIONS OF WAGNER FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE 



27 



THE ELIMINATION OF GRADE-CROSSINGS IN CITIES 



sary funds can be procured and provided the public authorities are wilHng to 

 share the cost on fair terms. 



5. CLASSIFICATION 



For the reasons given in the preceding caption, it is evident that the most 

 careful consideration must be given to just where the moneys which both cities 

 and railroads can afford to spend for grade-crossing elimination should be spent. 

 This involves a careful analysis of each crossing, regarding the amount of traffic 

 of all classes, both railroad and street, which passes over it in order to determine 

 its importance, and naturally leads to a plan by which all crossings should be 

 classified. When this is done, it is comparatively a simple matter to pick out 

 the most dangerous and arrange for their elimination. If such a classification 

 be established, say into three classes, arranged in order of their importance, 

 no crossing in the second or third class should receive consideration while a 

 crossing remains in the first class. There is frequently a temptation, which 

 may be caused by influential local interests, to provide for the removal of a 

 crossing of comparatively little importance and leave a very dangerous one 

 unprovided for. The work cannot all be done at once. The most dangerous 

 should receive attention first. 



Traffic counts should be made for all crossings, and in the compilation the 

 exact character of the traffic should be noted, as well as the delays caused. A 

 note should always be made defining the character of the railroad traffic. High 

 speed trains are much more dangerous than slow speed freight movements. 

 In many cases the freight movement in a city is entirely of a shifting character 

 and its danger is thus minimized. It may, however, be troublesome and annoy- 

 ing if it blocks traffic on the streets; therefore the necessity for records of 

 this kind. 



6. ESTHETIC CHARACTER OF THE CONSTRUCTION 



The appearance of the structures erected in grade-crossing elimination in 

 cities is receiving more and more attention, and it is right that it should be so. 

 In many cities of the larger sizes commissions are now in existence whose duty 

 it is to see that the designs of the structures are as pleasing as possible. The 

 engineers of both city and railroad should have this constantly in mind. Un- 

 fortunately nothing is harder than to design structures of this class and have 



