RALEIGH – The following are highlights from this week at the N.C. Department of Transportation. The stories below are also featured in
NCDOT Now, the department’s weekly newscast.
Infrared Railroad Cameras
One of the biggest safety challenges that NCDOT and the railroads encounter are people on the tracks. Railroads are private property, meaning not only can you be arrested or fined for trespassing on the tracks, but you are also putting your life at risk.
Many people don’t know that it takes a train traveling 55 miles per hour more than one mile to stop – that’s over 18 football fields.
“People are walking on the tracks, they have earbuds in, they are looking at their phones. Everybody thinks they’ll hear a train when it’s coming or feel it, but that’s not always the case,” explained Chris Vaughan, Research Associate at the Institute for Transportation Research and Education.
This year alone, there have been 28 trespassing incidents on state railroads, 14 of which were fatal.
With support from the department’s Research and Development unit, the Rail division is utilizing new technology and research methods to help keep people off railroad tracks. NCDOT has installed infrared cameras along the rail line between Charlotte and Raleigh, and on Piedmont trains, to determine the extent and primary locations of railroad trespassing.
This information will help the department tailor safety efforts, or make safety improvement recommendations, in locations where trespassing is a significant hazard.
To learn more about railroad safety, visit
BeRailSafe.org.
Winter Storm Cleanup
Travel is getting back to normal after an early winter storm hit the mountains and central areas of the state.
Before the storm arrived, crews treated thousands of miles of highway roads with brine solution to help keep ice from bonding to the pavement. After the storm passed, crews worked around the clock to plow and treat interstate and primary routes before moving to secondary roads.
In all, the department…
• Had 2,300 employees working;
• Deployed more than 1,400 pieces of equipment, plus an additional 900 contract trucks;
• Put down more than 2.3 million gallons of brine solution before and after the storm; and
• Used more than 43,000 tons of salt and sand.
Tree of Life Ceremony
While crews prepared for winter weather, a crowd gathered to remember those who died in vehicle crashes on North Carolina roads last year.
Fourteen hundred bows were tied to the Tree of Life, each representing a life lost, during the annual lighting and candlelight vigil in Raleigh. Speakers reminded drivers to buckle up... in every seat, every time and not drive impaired.