COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The issue of blocked railroad crossings is getting a closer look across the state.

Ohio is the third worst in the country when it comes to reports of crossings, with recent reports saying things like “first responders were observed being unable to cross the tracks.”

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Blocked crossings are when a train blocks traffic, sometimes for hours on end.

In Franklin County, the number of blocked railroad crossings in the last year is 140. The Ohio Rail Development Commission is hoping to help the entire state bring the number down.

“We want to get there before the crash happens and so this is what we’re trying to do with these things, is try to be a lot more proactive,” Executive Director of the Ohio Rail Development Commission Matthew Dietrich said.

A new tool is allowing the public the opportunity to give insight into fixing blocked crossings.

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This tool measures how a community may be affected or delayed by a train blocking the crossing, how close another way across is, and safety in the community.

“It gives us another source of data to make the case of the importance of fixing crossings, whether that’s grade separations or lights and gates,” Dietrich said.

“We do hope that members of the community, as they use it, give us some feedback and we can take that feedback and, you know, continue developing and bettering this tool into the future,” GIMS specialist Sarah Zibart said.

This tool shows the commission which crossings need to be improved first because funding is limited and projects to build over or under tracks are expensive.

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“Crashes is one of them that were in the top ten. That’s not so good. So again, we are going to, through our normal programs, we are going to address grade crossing safety no matter what, through lights and gates, possible closures, access roads, things like that,” Dietrich said.

The goal is for the community to help point out issues. There have been more than 19,000 reports of blocked crossings in the United States.

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