The Deadly Road: Washington's Campaign to Map Every Crossing
Engineers on gasoline speeders are crisscrossing 6,000 miles of track to end the fatal collisions between cars and trains.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Olympia, June 7—Three teams, each consisting of an engineer and an assistant, are traveling the state on gasoline speeders to conduct a critical investigation of every railroad grade crossing. The public service commission commissioned this project to address the frequent, often fatal, accidents at these intersections. The engineers are covering 6,000 miles of track, mapping 5,000 crossings. Each map documents traffic volume, sightlines, and obstructions. The commission is enforcing specific safety standards, including a requirement for 25 feet of level road on either side of the track and a maximum 5 percent grade on approaches to prevent automobile engines from stalling on the tracks, a common cause of death. Upon completion of the 90-day survey, the commission will prioritize the most dangerous crossings for complete elimination via grade separation, with costs split between railroads and local authorities.
“To prevent the 'killing' of an automobile engine on the track, the cause of several fatal accidents in recent years.”
This 1915 survey marks the early, desperate struggle to adapt infrastructure to the rise of the automobile. Today, Washington continues this legacy through the WSDOT grade crossing safety program, still battling the same dangerous intersections that claimed lives in the early twentieth century.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.