(The following story by Bob Goldsborough appeared on the Chicago Tribune website on June 30, 2010.)
CHICAGO — Every weekday morning, Peter Myung of Wheaton takes a Metra train to work. But even when he arrives at the downtown Wheaton station on time, he’s at risk of missing his train.
That’s because the Metra platform is on the north side of the adjacent Union Pacific tracks; the commuter parking lot where Myung parks his car is on the south side. When a passing freight train blocks the nearby West Street crossing, Myung and other commuters must wait for it to pass.But starting next year, Myung will be able to take a shortcut across the tracks and won’t risk missing his train.
A new pedestrian overpass west of West Street will cross the tracks and link the city’s commuter parking lots on the south side of the tracks with the Wheaton depot’s platforms. The work, which will include moving the Wheaton station’s platforms entirely west of West Street, is part of $3.3 million worth of improvements that Metra and the UP are planning for the Wheaton depot.
“I’ll probably use the pedestrian overpass a lot,” said Myung, 41, a highway engineer. “It’ll make a lot of sense, and it will be a shorter walk for me to the station.”
The new overpass is part of a $112 million project designed to improve safety and passenger and freight train flow along the Union Pacific’s West Line. Metra and the UP will split the cost of improvements that are planned for 12 of the West Line’s 13 stations from Maywood to Geneva, including new pedestrian paths, enhanced train warning systems and longer platforms. Traffic flow will be improved by adding a third track from just west of West Chicago’s depot to Elburn, said Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis.
Wheaton will not be the only depot to receive a brand-new grade separation. Commuters in Lombard next year will be able to begin using a pedestrian tunnel that Metra and the UP will install at the village’s Metra station.
Other improvements — some of which already are under way — include enhanced train warning systems and new pedestrian paths at all stations except Lombard, additional pedestrian gates and fences to separate commuters from the tracks, upgraded platforms at Elmhurst, Geneva, Maywood, Melrose Park, Wheaton and Winfield, and relocated handicapped parking at Berkeley.
Davis and Metra spokesman Michael Gillis said improvements will be finished by the end of this year at all stations except Wheaton and Lombard, where work — including Wheaton’s new pedestrian overpass and Lombard’s new pedestrian tunnel — will be completed next year. The third track from West Chicago to Elburn will be installed in 2012 or 2013, Gillis said.
The Union Pacific also plans to use funding from the federal Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency program, or CREATE, to triple-track the West Line between Melrose Park and Elmhurst in 2013 or 2014, Gillis said.
The new overpass in Wheaton is the latest in a series of grade separations in town that have been added in recent years. East of the downtown Wheaton Metra station, the Union Pacific is planning to install a pedestrian underpass near Wheaton College as part of previously announced plans to close the Chase Street auto crossing and build a crossover track for trains to switch from one track to another.
When the downtown Wheaton pedestrian overpass and the Chase Street pedestrian underpass are completed, pedestrians in Wheaton will be able to use seven underpasses and bridges to cross the UP tracks. That’s significantly up from 2000, when just two places in town — the Bridge Street auto overpass currently being rebuilt and the adjoining Illinois Prairie Path bridge — offered grade separations for cyclists and pedestrians to avoid the tracks.
In the past decade, DuPage County constructed the County Farm Road auto underpass, the Wheaton Park District built a pedestrian overpass near Monroe Middle School, and Metra installed a pedestrian tunnel at the College Avenue depot.
Wheaton Mayor Mike Gresk lauded the coming improvements, particularly the downtown Wheaton depot’s overpass.
“The pedestrian bridge should be a great boon, since people won’t be stuck on one side or the other because a train is picking up passengers or a freight train is moving through town,” Gresk said. “It’s a great improvement, and the good news is that it won’t cost us any money, since there’s no taxpayer dollars being spent.”
Gresk also praised the UP and Metra’s commitment to adding safe ways for cyclists and pedestrians to cross the tracks.
“I think it’s a great step forward,” Gresk said. “In addition, moving the platforms will mean fewer traffic backups for commuter trains in the early morning and early evening. In the long run, the improvements will alleviate much of the congestion that we see in the downtown.
“Are we still going to see freight trains? Yes. But hopefully, the waits will be shorter.”