Minnesota highway rail intersections low cost active warning system.

Nearly 70% of all highway-rail intersection (HRI) fatalities occur at the 5000+ passive public railroad crossings in Minnesota. Until recently, it was cost prohibitive to provide active real-time warning at all HRI's. Minnesota has identified a system which shows promise to reduce the cost of providing active warning from $100,000-$150,000 (US) per crossing to about $10,000 per crossing. By implementing these new active warning systems, Minnesota could reduce the number of HRI fatalities by 60%, thus saving up to $5.9 million per year. For the covering abstract see ITRD E209471.