The Irish writer James Joyce once said an excellent puzzle would be to try to cross Dublin without walking past a pub. A similar challenge for many cities in the United States would be to drive more than 20 miles on surface streets without hearing your wheels thrum over a perpendicular rail crossing.
Trains and cars must share an uneasy co-existence here in the nation that railroads built, and for many drivers — especially those who live near active tracks — the act of crossing them also comes with a brief pause, perhaps mindful of the 3,000 tons of angry steel that could theoretically be barreling toward them.
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