Comment EI-8544
Received or sent (printed as 8/18/2008)
The traffic analysis presented in Appendix E, Attachment E1 of the DEIS is significantly deficient with respect to the highway/rail at-grade crossings in Lake County. In particular, the simple model used to calculate vehicle delay on the US-14/Northwest Hwy crossing and the IL-59-63/Hough St crossing does not account for the intersection of those two thoroghfares approximately 1000' from their respective crossings. That intersection presents a major impediment to clearing the queues associated with the two crossings, and hence to a larger delay for impacted vehicles. The traffic analysis for these two crossings must be treated as a single unit, and the model must incorporate the traffic interaction at the intersection of the two roadways. The analysis must calculate delay for westbound Northwest Hwy traffic and for northbound Hough St traffic through vehicle clearance of that intersection. My informal modeling indicates that there is a dramatic increase in 'Average delay per delayed roadway vehicle' to perhaps as much as 3 minutes, from the 1.6 minutes of the simple model. I hope the more sophisticated tools available to the SEA can give a more definitive and realistic appraisal of the impact of the additional rail traffic to road traffic in this specific area. If these two crossings are analyzed together, as I believe appropriate, they would warrant remediation due to three factors: Exposure (57,718 ADT x 20.3 trains), > 40 hrs delay/day (2,016 vehicles x 3 min), and Queue blocks major thoroughfares (as noted in the DEIS). Even if the parameters of the two crossings are calculated independently, but just incorporating their interaction in increased delay time, the Northwest Hwy crossing would be a candidate for mitigation should the delay actually be slightly over 3 minutes. I urge the SEA to analyze the Northwest Hwy and Hough St crossings as a unit, and for the Board to require mitigation with significant participation from the Applicant. Note that this comment reflects my personal position, and not that of the CMAP Citizens' Advisory Committee (on which I serve). - Harry Solomon
Submitted by: Harry Solomon · CMAP Citizens' Advisory Committee · Highland Park, 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-8544 · back to the docket sheet