Comment EI-8545
Received or sent (printed as 8/18/2008)
Re: Purchase of EJ&E tracks by Canadian National will affect our community by slicing it in half, thus affecting our lives now and long into the future. Safety- access to hospital, fire and police service; 840 school bus crossings per school day, along with student drivers and pedestrian traffic; trains are within 600 feet of Barrington High School; traffic congestion; air quality. The report confirms the risk of rail accidents will increase on our tracks. It presently can take 30 minutes to cross the small town during Commuter rush. Lack of access to hospitals will be detrimental to home sales. · Economic- changes in shopping patterns; businesses could close; tax revenues will be lost; increased fuel consumption during traffic delays; concern for possibility of spilled contaminates entering our only water source; wayside- noise from the train traffic; the decrease in all of our property values; future of the Star line (north/south Metra line through western suburbs) will be in question. I presently do not shop in Barrington as EJ&E traffic impacts the area with 5 trains per day, one very close to 6pm rush hour ties up a rolling 5 intersections in the area. Longer trains will block our entire town. CN already runs these long trains. Why are mitigation expenses not being addressed factually and fairly? The cost of intersections to the lost time waiting for trains is terribly understated in a burgeoning bedroom community already impacted by Federal & State road construction. For what reason should US U.S. taxpayers foot the bill for the benefit of a foreign corporation? · Mitigation- Why the DEIS only recognized that Route 59/Hough St. should be grade separated? Route 14 is the most traveled road in town and westbound Lake Cook traffic backs up at evening rush at 2 EJ&E crossings NOW. Why was a rail-to-rail separation not recognized at the Union Pacific/EJ grade crossing? Why should foreign freight rate higher than Commuter traffic to the City? This will have horrendous impact on teh Metra commuter service. · Cohesiveness- Barrington was on the map long before the EJ&E was built. We have lived with trains and built our town and lives around the current train traffic. We get to our schools, we recreate, we do business, we shop, we receive emergency services, and we live together moving about as a community. The proposed purchase by CN will affect our life-style with a severe impact on our safety, economy, environment, and future growth and development. I purchased a home in Barrington as it IS a hub of transportation with many angled streets alleviating gridlock. Freight trains, running through our town will exacerbate gridlock by cutting across all viable alternate routes to the hospital and schools. Please do not stand idly by while the behemouth of Canadian National forces their changes onto entire towns & economies. The need for numerous overpasses & crossings will be a boondoggle for our village & state that will be impossible to live down.
Submitted by: Janet Ziessow · Barrington, 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-8545 · back to the docket sheet