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[quote user="schlimm"] When all the physical damages to the CZ plus the truck, plus the grade crossing gates and signals plus whatever damages are paid out to the injured (even if only for medical care) and the deceased heirs, it certainly sounds like an overpass for the highway would have ended up costing a lot less.  As they say, "Penny wise, pound foolish." <div style="clear:both;"></div> [/quote] Your comparison of the cost of the damage in this crash to the cost of an overpass that would have prevented it may be accurate.  However, the cost of crashes must be weighed against the cost of overpasses collectively, on an average basis rather than individually.  Not every grade crossing is destined to suffer a catastrophic crash.  So you don’t know ahead of time what each overpass will offset in crash costs.  <o:p></o:p> I think a better analysis would be to pick a random sample of grade crossings based only on their similarity in train and vehicle traffic and physical characteristics.  The sample selection would be intentionally blind to the actual crash history of the crossings.  Say we pick 100 crossings on that sampling basis.  <o:p></o:p> Then do the following:  <o:p></o:p> 1)      Research the crash history and calculate the cost. 2)      Calculate the cost of replacing those crossings with bridges. 3)      Compare the totals of those two cost summaries.   <o:p></o:p> If the cost of the total crash history is greater than the cost of replacing those crossings, then I think one could conclude that the payback is there.  <o:p></o:p> But, as I mentioned elsewhere, I believe a layer of automatic vehicle management will soon be in all of our vehicles.  With that system, keeping cars out of the way of trains will be a walk in the woods.
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