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Grade separation is often cited as the ultimate solution, but is it overkill?  What about retaining grade crossings, but just improving their security?   <o:p></o:p> Just the average crossing with flashers and gates must be a tremendous safety improvement over it being only protected by crossbucks.  If we can then take that crossing with flashers and gates, and further improve its safety by 98% simply by making the gates 4-quadrant with median barriers (as the linked report says), it seems to me that, for all practical purposes, the problem is solved.  What does that cost?  Two-million dollars?  If the problem can be solved that cheaply, why build overpasses and strive for grade separation?   <o:p></o:p> Here is an article about building overpasses in Springfield, IL.  It says they will cost at least $15-million each, besides posing many unsolvable problems in disrupting the business district.  Let’s see, we have 250,000 crossings in the country, and at $15,000,000 each for new overpasses, if my math is correct, that would be $3.75 trillion plus any little cost overrun.  That is only 7 ½ times the cost of the full nationwide HSR system.  <o:p></o:p> <a href="http://www.sj-r.com/news/x1574721306/Railroad-plan-calls-for-9-overpasses-1-underpass-5-intersection-closings">http://www.sj-r.com/news/x1574721306/Railroad-plan-calls-for-9-overpasses-1-underpass-5-intersection-closings</a>
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