Comment EI-5580
Received or sent (printed as 2/16/2008)
It is with sincere regret and a tragic vision of the destruction of the relatively peaceful lifestyle of our local suburban communities, that I write you today concerning the potential acquisition of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railroad (EJ&E) by the Canadian National Railway Company (CN). I ask you right at the outset, please do not let this acquisition take place. I am writing you as a resident of a town through which the EJ&E railroad passes, as a CN stockholder, as a person who's grandfather and two of his brothers were EJ&E employees, as a model railroader, as a member of the Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society, as member of the Illinois Railway Museum, and as a true railfan and supporter of our U.S. railroads. But most of all, I am writing you to tell you that I am totally opposed to the proposed CN acquisition of the EJ&E! I will not ask you to, again, read through a restatement of what is proposed by CN, nor will I recite the dreadful changes that would take place as a result of this acquisition. I will ask you to search your heart and soul as a fellow citizen, and know that all of the negative impacts cited by so many of us will in fact become our new reality if you allow it. I will focus my comments strictly on the vehicular traffic impact, and ask that you consider our current reality and how devastatingly worse it will become. Vehicular traffic in Lake County, Illinois is already beyond terrible, and it has been for at least 25 years. Population has increased significantly and old roadway systems have long since become inadequate. As suburbs have expanded, in addition to local residents crowding the roadways, many thousands of regional residents add to the frequent gridlock as they cut through the local towns to access the more major highway systems. Transportation authorities in Lake County either can't or won't respond with roadway improvements that alleviate or eliminate the problems. There are many railroad grade crossings, a lack of adequate turning and bypass lanes, insufficient lanes to carry the traffic load, and poor signalization and other traffic controls to handle the overwhelming burden. The EJ&E rail line traverses the region through many suburban towns, crossing almost all major roads at grade. There are several locations where there are grade crossings within a few hundred feet of each other, affecting traffic going in all directions. Current rail traffic on the EJ&E minimally impacts these roads, but even so causes substantial backups at key times. The proposed CN rail traffic increases will simply have a devastating and intolerable impact on the entire affected region. And all this would come with no benefit at all to local communities, and a substantial benefit to the bottom line of a foreign company.
Submitted by: PHILLIP A. LAGRO · HAWTHORN WOODS, IL
The Board publishes this comment in its environmental-comment table for this proceeding. It is quoted here as printed; nothing is inferred from it, and it states the commenter's own position in their own words, not this record's.
Permanent address docketyard.org/d/FD-35087/comment/EI-5580 · back to the docket sheet