(The following story by Patrick Ferrell appeared on the Suburban Chicago News website on March 26.)
NEW LENOX, Ill. — The village board on Monday authorized yet another study aimed at fighting Canadian National’s proposed purchase of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway.
Trustees approved a $7,000 contract with Hoffman Estates-based Metro Transportation Group to develop traffic projection for 2030 on five key north-south roads that intersect with the EJ&E tracks.
Current traffic counts on file with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning are several years out of date and don’t account for new development that has taken place in the village, township and neighboring Manhattan Township, Village Administrator Russ Loebe said.
“We see the projected traffic counts as almost farm traffic, stuff we saw 15 years ago,” Loebe said. “When we start talking about viaduct and grade separations, we (want to) talk about traffic counts that are meaningful.”
New hires, resolution
Last month, the village hired a law firm and Web designer to help rally support in the growing battle over CN’s bid to purchase the EJ&E and route its trains to the tracks to avoid the clogged railways of Chicago.
The village board also passed a resolution asking the Surface Transportation Board — the federal agency that must sign off on the sale — to force Canadian National to construct grade separation rail crossings in the village and perform other tasks that will minimize the impact of increasing trains from six to 28 per day.
Loebe said the village plans to use the data from the traffic study to lobby for the grade separation crossings.
The studies will take into account current traffic counts on Gougar, Nelson, Cedar, Spencer and Schoolhouse roads as well as new and proposed development in the area.
On www. nlrailsense.net, the Web site the village created about the proposed railway purchase, there’s a 19-page document posted that lists 90 pending commercial and residential developments.
“That’s a pretty compelling story,” Loebe said of the proposed developments, which range from tiny 33-unit residential areas to massive neighborhoods that will pack 1,200 residential units.
A preliminary report is expected within about three weeks.
Once the study is complete, in addition to being used in the railroad fight, the study will be filed with CMAP to update its files, Loebe said.