Past Inaction Affecting the Present: Nagle At-Grade Rail Crossing
This is a post about the at-grade rail crossing at Nagle Avenue. I apologize in advance, as this is a bit of a rant. Specifically, how past inaction has affected the current conditions.
As anyone who lives nearby knows, getting across the crossing by car (or even on foot) is not a great experience. A few years ago, CMAP studied travel delays at rail crossings across the Chicagoland area. The crossing at Nagle Avenue was rated as one of the worst within the city's municipal boundaries.
- https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=0b47f03ce4ef4cbab368bf67e5770060#overview
- https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?webmap=0b47f03ce4ef4cbab368bf67e5770060
The upcoming crossing renewal project by Union Pacific has me hopeful, but not convinced it'll make much of a difference.
The inactions of the past have led us to the current situation. What many people may not realize is that there were actually plans to elevate this stretch of track nearly 100 years ago.
In 1929, Chicago's City Council passed an ordinance requiring C&NW (which owned the railroad at that time) to elevate the tracks from Foster Avenue to the city limits at Ozark Avenue with underpasses at several major thoroughfares (similar to what currently exists near Foster & Central).
The original completion date was December 31, 1933, but it was later pushed back to December 31, 1939. I've linked the actual ordinance below, along with some additional information for anyone interested.
- https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofcit107chic/page/860/mode/2up
- https://www.chicagorailfan.com/elevacxl.html
- https://imgur.com/a/old-newspaper-clippings-c-nw-track-elevation-far-northwest-side-zwLSP6Y
- https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1kJsRwlQXucygI2rEE4yOQJBrR5lJD0Y
Of course, none of this ever happened. Instead, the C&NW cited the Great Depression and other financial constraints as reasons it was unable to carry out these improvements.
After two decades without progress, the city's engineers and the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) attempted to negotiate a compromise with the C&NW in the early 1950's. However, the meetings and discussions failed to produce an agreement because of various financial disputes. You can read more about these efforts in the digitized newspaper clipping below.
I personally believe that no matter how well you educate motorists about driving over rail crossings (unfortunately, some people will always act idiotically) and regardless of what safety measures local agencies put in place, the most effective solution will always be to separate cars/pedestrians from trains. That would require elevating the tracks, like was proposed many decades ago.
There’s probably no agency, company, or person willing to foot the bill for such a massive project. As such, we will likely be left with the current conditions for the foreseeable future.