(The following story by Lynne Stiefel appeared on the Pioneer Press website on June 18.)
GLENVIEW, Ill. — Although Metra officials have agreed to install pedestrian gates at the Glenview Road rail crossing where 11-year-old Victor Olivera was fatally struck May 25, supporters of the boy’s family hope to convince them that more pedestrian gates are needed at crossings statewide.
“There’s no doubt from our perspective that a crossing gate would have stopped Victor,” family friend Pat Foley told a crowd of more than 500 children and adults who marched with signs June 9 from Our Lady of Perpetual Help School over the rail crossing where Victor was struck to a rally in Jackman Park.
While Metra officials agreed last week to install the gates, they added they don’t always block people from crossing tracks.
“This was just an innocent kid, an 11-year-old kid, who got a little too close to the rails,” Foley countered in his remarks. “We really hope we can change the dialogue, that we can promote safety and we can have (Metra’s) cooperation.”
Gate backed
The Glenview Village Board Tuesday night was expected to vote to pledge to pay for the gates’ installation. The bill is estimated at $100,000.
Though it typically takes one to two years for a pedestrian gate request to wend its way from Metra through the Illinois Commerce Commission approval process, Village President Larry Carlson told the crowd that state Rep. Elizabeth Coulson, R-17th, and state Sen. Susan Garrett, D-29th, have pledged to work with Metra officials to hasten that process.
Carlson said he was told Metra could have the gates installed in three to six months.
“I’m used to dealing with bureaucracies. There’s been none of that in this whole process. Everybody has wanted to chip in and move this ahead,” he said June 9. “With Rep. Coulson and Sen. Garrett on our side, this isn’t going to sit on somebody’s desk. This is going to go right through.”
Carlson also promised that if the gates are not functioning when classes begin in August, police officers will be stationed there as crossing guards until the gates are working.
Teaching safety
Friends and supporters of the Olivera family have been disseminating information about ways to improve railroad safety, especially for children.
Under the label “Victor’s Crossing,” they are organizing efforts to push for legislation that will mandate pedestrian gates at all railroad crossings within 500 yards of a school; to encourage schools to host rail safety seminars; and to set up a Web site that will make rail crossing safety information easily accessible.
They also want parents to teach their children how to navigate rail crossings safely.
“I’m sure many of you here had absolutely no idea just how unsafe (the Glenview Road) crossing is. We’re running around, we’re busy, and every single day thousands of children are passing through this crossing,” Foley said at the June 9 rally. “All of us in this community are clearly on notice now: We need to do something about it.”
Literature the group is handing out recommends that parents “Take a walk to the train and show your child how to cross the tracks, what to look for and how far to stand back. Check out books from the library and talk about safety topics.”
As well, the group suggests sending a thank-you note to the Glenview fire and police departments.
“These fine individuals have dedicated their lives to the safety and well-being of the residents of Glenview,” the group’s literature states. “Ambulance 6 specifically helped Victor on the day he needed it, and they were there. Take a moment to thank them for their service to the community.”
Other issues
As Metra officials determine how and when to install the pedestrian gates at the Glenview crossing, Carlson has asked them to look at the feasibility of installing a more extensive set of road gates there at the same time.
The village wants more information about gates that could block all lanes of traffic in both directions of travel.
Those so-called four-quadrant gates may be among improvements that would help Glenview meet federal conditions that would let Glenview retain its train horn ban in residential areas.
Communities are to let the Federal Railroad Administration know by Dec. 18 if they intend to pursue crossing improvements that will preserve such quiet zones.
Under a 1994 federal law, railroads are required to sound horns at all public street crossings unless other safety measures are in place to offset the risk of not using the horn. The onus is on affected municipalities to make upgrades at the crossings, based on a formula that takes into account the number of trains, frequency of accidents, the amount of vehicular traffic and other factors.
Some have complained that the improvements that may let a community keep a train horn ban are too costly and may not eliminate all safety hazards.
Carlson, in a June 9 letter to Metra Executive Director Philip Pagano, said it would be timely for the village and Metra to explore the possibilities.
“If you have to redo the circuitry for the pedestrian gates anyway, what would the additional incremental costs be to include two more complimentary gates over the street as well?” he wrote.
Carlson also asked in the letter if it would be possible for Metra to fill in gaps with more asphalt where the sidewalks meet the tracks.
Yet “We would not want the exploration of this option to have the effect of slowing down the installation of the pedestrian gates at the earliest opportunity,” he wrote.