re: Trains Blocking Roads During the Work Day

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The 9:47 is always right on time at the box...

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The joke is you look at your watch and say whatever time it is "is right on time" when it passes. I've always heard people throw out 9:47 but I can't remember the last time there was one then.

The train last Friday passed at 10:22.

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I use to live about 2 miles from a train crossing that would cross everyday going to work. This is a fairly busy 4 lane road. It was notorius for stopping 30-60 minutes EVERYTIME. I saw last week the city is trying to get funding to build an overpass. Not sure how much they had already raised, but they were applying for a $15MM grant from the state to cover the remaining cost....So your standard overpass would cost over $15MM.

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Apparently there is an "exposure factor" that is used to determine whether they should think about building an overpass. You just multiply the trains per day times cars per day, and anything over 100,000 is when they begin to consider it. For example, if a crossing sees 10 trains and 10,000 cars per day, an overpass might be considered. I'm sure that a more detailed analysis is then done which considers length of trains and wait time, special construction considerations, etc.

I realize it's just a rule of thumb, but it seems to me there are a whole lot of crossings that meet the criteria for consideration...