The owner of any private crossing at grade of the tracks of a railroad company, or of any right, title, interest, easement or privilege in land used by a company for railroad purposes, or any such company whose land is encumbered by any such private rights, may bring a written petition to the Commissioner of Transportation for the condemnation of such rights, alleging that public safety requires the elimination of such encumbrance. The commissioner shall thereupon appoint a time and place for hearing the petition, and shall give such notice thereof as he judges reasonable to the owner of such rights, to the company and to the owners of land adjoining the highway to be laid out as a substitute for such private crossing, as hereinafter provided, if any such highway is to be laid out. Upon the hearing of such petition, if public safety so requires, the commissioner shall authorize the company to condemn such private rights, and thereupon the company may proceed to condemn the same in the manner provided by law for the taking of lands by such companies. Upon the hearing of such petition, if the commissioner is of the opinion that public convenience and necessity require a highway on account of the elimination of such private rights in the land of the railroad company, he may lay out a highway sufficient to satisfy public convenience; but such highway shall not be laid out if the land of a private owner, with which the encumbrance is associated, is already connected with a public highway. If the commissioner orders a new highway, he shall assess the expense of making the same, including the damages to any person whose land is taken, proportionately, upon the person and parties especially benefited thereby, but at least one-half of such expense shall be paid by the company. The commissioner may order the elimination of any private crossing at grade by the substitution of an overhead or underneath crossing, in which case the expense of making such change, including land damages, shall be paid by the company.