Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Downtown
I'm sure that CN would be happy to cooperate with Barrington's construction of a grade separation to prevent traffic congestion from trains.
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Actually, I'm getting involved with the anti-CN coalition purely to introduce some logic into this process (my main idea is splitting the cost of improvements between municipalities and CN.)
The freight tracks in Chicago were all grade-separated 80-100 years ago to remove the trains from the busy streets below. Today, grade-separation is usually a matter of moving the crossing roads onto over or underpasses. Road overpasses create unsightly views and underpasses have drainage issues. They're both relatively inexpensive solutions, though.
Has anybody done any cost-benefit studies of grade-separation by modifying the rail tracks? I think a open-cut arrangement like the one in Winnetka is desirable. At several points in Barrington, the land drops off and the railroad becomes higher than grade level, so it wouldn't involve as much excavation as it seems. This is of course extremely unrealistic, but it's what I'd like to see happen in a perfect world. Sound-barrier technology also exists that is reasonably-priced, and could be implemented relatively quickly.
So far, the Barrington coalition's strategy is purely aimed at stalling CN and putting off the approval of the EJ&E purchase by requiring CN to perform an Environmental Impact Statement. All this will do is postpone the increase in rail traffic, and the problems with road traffic will be even worse as more development happens in the surrounding area.
Rather than creating bad blood with CN by angrily delaying them at every turn, why not work cooperatively with them on mitigation projects?