FUNDING TO FIX ‘DANGEROUS TRAIN CROSSING’

Name: FUNDING TO FIX ‘DANGEROUS TRAIN CROSSING’
Uploaded: 2024-05-30T17:00:00.000Z
Duration: 2 min 44 s
Channel: NTD Tonight
Description: Train crossings are meant to give trains the right of way. However, roads and traffic have changed over the years. The notorious Broadway intersection in Burlingame, California prompts officials to make improvements. They're asking for funding at the most dangerous crossing in California.

NTD Tonight

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Train crossings are meant to give trains the right of way. However, roads and traffic have changed over the years. The notorious Broadway intersection in Burlingame, California prompts officials to make improvements. They're asking for funding at the most dangerous crossing in California.

Thousands of people commuting back and forth in both directions in the city of Burlingame at this train crossing which is considered the most dangerous in California. It's just too crowded in general it's it's pretty unsafe sometimes you'll have the police stationed in the gas station area there just for people who go through red lights because they're tired of waiting so as things get close you'll have people going through red lights and occasionally the police will implement themselves there to be able to take care of that. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation since 2014 on average 11,000 railroad accidents happen each year throughout the nation. The local Caltrain system in California is partnering with the city of Burlingame to separate the train tracks from the Broadway intersection. It would reduce traffic congestion and train noise. State Senator Josh Becker says there have been 22 accidents here since 2014. We've seen the growth you know we want more housing here and Burlingame is one of the cities that's responded they're growing the size of the town by 20% so I think all that contributes to safety issues. Officials want to restore funding of 70 million dollars from the state which would then make it possible for more funding federally. If funding is approved construction is projected to start next year and end in 2028. It's a 320 million dollar project that's the primary need. We had the majority of that and I think we only had a gap of about 50 million dollars except if the funding that the state had promised is taken away obviously that gap will become much larger and it will be much harder to realize. It's said that people could be distracted or don't anticipate the traffic buildup and then end up in the path of the train especially for those new to the area. A recent collision was in January. This Broadway interchange is a major it's the major gateway particularly for the communities of Burlingame and Hillsborough. There's about 70,000 automobiles that travel through that intersection and about 30 or 6,000 or so travel across these railroad tracks every day. So with all these moving parts commute hours it gets incredibly complicated. If your way finding system tells you to turn right you may not even be able to anticipate where the right hand turn is and hopefully it's not across the railroad tracks. At the time of this crossings development the area became populated later on with businesses and traffic leading it to be considered the most dangerous in the Golden State. With retailers that need more foot traffic they need more people coming in and for them I think it has a pretty profound impact. In Burlingame, California David Lam, NTD News.