Passenger Trains > FL: Feds and BrightLine, parte deux

The feds have released a list of proposed BrightLine crossings in Martin County to Cocoa which will be reconsidered and reviewed.

No real surprises, although I suspect some will just be closed. I was surprised that Jensen Beach Blvd wasn't mentioned. Traffic circle, five intersecting roads, shopping mall entrance. Put a 79 mile per hour line right through it...

https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/local/shaping-our-future/2018/02/08/fdot-conducting-safety-review-skewed-design-crossings-space-coast-treasure-coast/313411002/

Posted from Android

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Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/18 13:05 by darkcloud.

darkcloud Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
(SNIP)
> Probably because it isn't really a dangerous
> crossing. The traffic circle results in just 2
> separate one-way crossings of the tracks, thus the
> gates can totally block entrance with no way for a
> car to go around them and get on the tracks. The
> one-way nature also means that there are no gates
> in the opposite direction that might eventually
> block exit (unlike a 4-quad gates setup on a 2-way
> road) and there are no traffic lights to
> coordinate with. Although 6 streets meet around
> the circle, that actually makes exiting the tracks
> easier, since in each direction there are
> immediately 3 routes of escape. While one or both
> directions of the main road might be backed up, it
> is highly unlikely all 3 would be for the 20-30
> seconds from when the gates activate until a train
> arrives, especially the secondary streets that are
> the immediate right turn at each crossing (Candace
> and West End.) Also a grass and then bricked
> areas wide enough for a car to pull onto to get
> out of the way if all 3 (SNIP)

Absolutely possible.

I haven't seen the plan for Jensen Beach boulevard, so it's possible that plan is acceptable to the feds.

Same thing with the six way intersection at Colorado Avenue in Stuart. Maybe they resolved the issues, and the feds were OK with it.

Posted from Android

I've designed both roundabouts and grade crossings during my career. The Jensen Beach crossing is more accurately described as a roundabout. Roundabouts are characterized by low speed movements through the circulating lanes and the entering traffic yields to the circulating traffic. From what I can see on Google Streetview, it looks pretty good but I'd like to see some additional splitter islands on the west side to replace the painted "islands" especially on that road paralleling the tracks. This would reinforce the direction in which drivers need to turn.