From Elizabeth to the West - Level crossing eliminations

I understand there was a program to eliminate level crossings during the '30's...the most spectacular, probably, at Cranford, with the high station and bridges eliminating such crossings in that town. Specifically, do any of you remember the elimination of the level crossing at Garwood during the '60's? My mother had her '54 Dodge stall on the level crossing, with me (10 yrs old) and my brother (8 yrs) being dragged out of the car; this was in 1954, when major traffic made such an occurance a real danger! The gatekeeper got the car started and cleared of the tracks.

When was this program conceived, and finally abandoned, due to abandonment of reasonably major traffic on this line? Sam

I vaguely remember the Dunellen elimination project. I remember the crossing in the early 50s (four tracks, gates, and an attenant) then the opening some time in the mid decade. I remember my mother reading me an article from the Newark Evening News when it opened. The thing that stuck in my mind is the line that the elevation involved a total of three miles of track line (assume a mile and a half in each direction). The station, when it opened, looked like a super modern thing to me.

I was not born yet in 1962 when the Garwood grade crossing was eliminated with the bridge but I saw great pic's of it during the construction.
I do remember a huge flood in 1972 or 1973 that filled up the underpass almost all the way up to the tracks.
The electrical pump system failed and it took the fire dept 2 or 3 days to pump it all out and there were 2 cars trapped in the water but no fatalities.