Louisiana’s Most Dangerous Railroad Crossing – Do You Cross It?

In the Louisiana town of Dequincy, they know a thing or two about trains and the railroad. That town hosts the Louisiana Railroad Days Festival every year in April. It's a festival that honors a time when the railroads meant growth and progress for smaller communities that sprouted along their tracks.

While those railroad tracks were and still are seen as a conduit to business and industry with the influx of cars and trucks through the years the railroad and more importantly where that road of rails crosses a city street or highway have become pain points for motorists and railroad companies too.

It's estimated that there are some 3,000 places where a roadway crosses a train track or vice versa. Many of those crossings are marked only with a sign reminding motorists that trains will be passing through. Some crossings have signals that through a series of flashing lights and bells warn motorists that an approaching train is close.

Then there are some crossings that have signs, bells, whistles, lights, and crossing arms to keep motorists from advancing on or across the tracks when a train is approaching. The reason for the abundance of caution? Trains take a long time to stop and in the battle between car and train or truck and train, the train will be the winner. So, you might as well stop, look, and listen before you cross the tracks.

Where is Louisiana's Most Dangerous Railroad Crossing?

That's a picture of it posted above. As you can see this is a railroad crossing that has bells, signs, and lights, and really makes it noticeable that this is where the train tracks intersect with the roadway. This crossing is located in Baton Rouge near the intersection of North Foster and Choctaw Road.

More than 13 different crashes have been reported at this crossing in the past decade or so and that earned the Foster Road crossing in Baton Rouge the distinction of being the 8th most dangerous rail crossing nationally since 2006.

As of the most recent schedule that we could find there are four trains that travel on this stretch of track through Baton Rouge every day. The trains are supposed to be crossing the roadway at 20 mph. We know the train can't stop on a dime but you'd think at that speed motorists would be able to get out of the way or better yet, not get in the way to begin with.

Rail officials say what makes the Foster Drive crossing particularly dangerous is that motorists often stop with part of their vehicle on the tracks. As we mentioned the crossing is near an intersection and sometimes with heavy traffic a red light can create a line of traffic that stretches back to and across the railroad crossing.

We should note that city officials in Baton Rouge have synchronized the traffic lights at the nearby intersections to coincide with train arrivals. This should allow traffic to clear the tracks before the train arrives at the crossing or before there is a chance for impact.