Chicago's $6B CREATE Rail Program Rolling Along
The 2-mile-long Forest Hill Flyover removes daily conflicts between 35 freight trains and 30 passenger trains in Chicago.
After two decades, the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program (CREATE), an approximately $6-billion public-private effort to improve passenger and freight rail, has completed 36 of 70 projects, with five in construction and the rest to come.
Velicia Goode, freight section rail chief with the Illinois Dept. of Transportation, told attendees of an online session hosted by the University of Illinois, Chicago's Urban Transportation Center on Nov. 20 that the $1-billion EW2, 80th Street Junction Replacements—part of the larger 75th Street Corridor Improvement Project—is broken into segments to facilitate federal funding. To date, it has received a $291-million Federal Highway Mega Grant for Segment A to go to construction, she said. The 75th Street Corridor Improvement Project is comprised of numerous projects, all designed to eliminate the most congested rail chokepoint in the Chicago Terminal—Belt Junction, where 30 Metra passenger trains and 90 freight trains per day cross paths.
The EW2 project creates a rail flyover at 75th Street to eliminate conflict between 30 Metra trains and 35 freight trains operating on the Western Avenue Corridor. The construction of an additional main line for Metra operation and the rail-rail flyover connection will reduce congestion and freight conflicts and will connect Metra with the existing Rock Island District tracks.
Rebecca Wingate, CREATE program manager at the Association of American Railroads, highlighted the Forest Hill Flyover, a $390-million public-private partnership effort that elevates CSX freight tracks over the 75th Street Corridor and 71th Street. Completed in mid-November, the roughly 2-mile-long bridge separates freight and passenger trains.
“The completion of the Forest Hill Flyover represents far more than new infrastructure—it’s a powerful step toward greater efficiency, enhanced network reliability and an improved experience for the customers and communities we serve,” said CSX President and CEO Steve Angel in a news release.
Another project is a new passenger rail flyover, which will take Metra out of the busy Belt Junction, where four tracks merge into two tracks and then back into four. “One of the biggest issues with this is that Metra comes from the southwest and goes to the northeast, which means they have to cross all of the tracks in order to get out of the junction," said Wingate. "So the plan is to build a flyover track and to bring it onto Rock Island, which is a passenger-only corridor owned by Metra."
The speakers also noted the GS1 Grade Separation project that will address one of the crossings most impacted by freight rail in the Chicago terminal. Some 10,000 vehicles, 185 buses and 33 freight trains pass through the 65th Street crossing daily. The estimated $126-million project to eliminate the at-grade crossing received a $43-million federal grant and is in design.
Another grade separation project is GS11, with utility work underway. Also known as the Columbus Avenue and Belt Railway Co. Grade Separation, the approximately $65-million project is intended to reduce roadway congestion and improve safety for 11,500 daily vehicles. "This is a very exciting project because of how beneficial it will be to the community," says Wingate. “There are a lot of trucks in the area and there is a school, so you have semi-trucks and parents picking up kids from school and a complicated intersection.”
Wingate also noted the Metra Rock Island Bridge 87 at 79th Street Bridge Raise Construction Project. The project consists of modifying and raising selected spans of the Rock Island Bridge 87 to provide additional clearance for Norfolk Southern and Belt Railway Co. tracks. This is a steel-and-concrete structure with a lot of bearings, so it will be a challenge to raise, said Wingate. The project is in the bidding process.
