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Chicago, IL

Hundreds of reports of first responders blocked at a single pair of crossings.

Documented blockagesFunding won
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Summary

MetroChicago region
RailroadsCN · Belt Railway · CSX · UP · NS and others
Open at-grade crossings449
Vehicles a day crossing tracks at grade1,691,930
Busiest crossing in the modelCicero Ave (840386T): 50,400 vehicles/day, 6 switching trains/day
Funding2 awards on record (see below)
Data sourceFRA Crossing Inventory, retrieved Oct 2, 2026

Blockage scenario

Time
$9.89M
453,768 person-hours a year
Trade
21,794
truck-hours a year, worth $778K in driver time
Pollution
809 t
CO₂ from 88,484 gallons idled, like 176 cars for a year

Example scenario for busy yard-adjacent crossings. Regional data shows hours-long stops near Clearing Yard.

Blockages modeled per crossing per year728
Vehicles stopped by one blockage1,681
Trucks stopped by one blockage120
Person-hours lost per year453,768
Value of lost time per year$9.89M
Truck-hours idled per year21,794
Gallons of fuel idled per year88,484
CO₂ per year (metric tons)809

Screening estimate. Each selected crossing is blocked for the set time; drivers wait half of it on average. Method and sources

Crossings in the model

CrossingUSDOT IDVehicles/dayCount yearTrains/dayTrucks
840386T50,400n/a6 switching9%
869213N30,300n/a34%

Uncheck a crossing to remove it from the scenario. "~" truck shares use the city's traffic-weighted average where the inventory reports none.

On the record