Comment EI-21953
Received or sent (printed as 4/11/2016)
Mr. Navecky, I am writing to inform you of some concerns I have about the proposed railway by the Great Lakes Basin. I live near the Porter Co./LaPorte Co. line. I am just inside of Porter Co. in the northeast corner of Washington Twp. The railway would cut through my neighbor's property that is divided by the two counties. It will be very close to the eastern border of my property, and at it's closest near the southeast corner. I have many concerns. I would like to address many of those concerns in no particular order. There is already a double railway to the south of my property line, and there is a ditch/creek dividing my property and the existing tracks and my neighbors property and the existing tracks. These tracks have a higher elevation than that of my property and my neighbor's property in which the new proposed railway would most likely have to go up and over these tracks and creek/ditch, if it were passed and built.( A possible better route or option may be to cross this existing track closer to highway 421 where the track is at ground elevation, if it has to be built at all) Our properties are pretty low and somewhat of what you call muck ground". In order for my husband and I to even build our house here we had to install a perimeter drain to help dewater the area to make it suitable for building and installing a septic. This leads me to my next concern over drainage issues. Bordering the western side of my property is another creek/drainage ditch. Water does run from my neighbors property across mine and into this ditch. If this railway is built, this would essentially, in my opinion, back up the normal flow of water and drainage causing many problems with his farm ground. It also concerns me that we would then get run off from the railway on our side into our hay field. At that point, the train would be coming off of an incline and getting ready to make a gradual turn slowing from 70 mph to 40 mph. Derailments can happen and if it does, will end up pouring any hazardous/toxic chemicals right across my property, possibly contaminating my well, and into the creek/drainage ditch thus polluting everything downstream. Also, my driveway is a school bus turnaround for Washington Twp. School at the north side of my property. My husband stepped off the distance from our driveway to where the proposed railway would have a crossing on our road, and the distance was approximately 630 ft. A railroad crossing with a train crossing it will have traffic backed up, especially in the mornings with higher amounts of traffic. To me, it sounds like a huge safety issue trying to back a school bus with children inside into my driveway to turn around. The timing of that task could be impeccable or detrimental. When we built our home roughly 18.5 years ago, we were well aware there was a track behind our house, there is not an intersection there so the horns are generally not blown near our home. If the new railway goes in we could possibly be hearing a train horn/whistle 110 times a day, vibration from the new railway would almost be a constant. I am a very light sleeper as is my daughter, I cannot even imagine listening to this and how much it is going to disrupt our lives from the relatively quiet atmosphere we are used to and chose for ourselves when we purchased this 24.95 acre field 19.5 years ago. It was just that, a field. We now have a home, 2 barns, a couple of pastures, a nice large garden area, and a crop of hay, all that we have built over the years as we could afford it because this is the life we wanted and so badly wanted for our children. We do raise feeder pigs, and our children are in 4-H. They are often out walking/exercising their pigs in the early morning hours, no leash, no halters, no ropes, because that is how you show and get your pigs ready for show. The thought of these projected trains zooming past my kids and our livestock makes me sick to my stomach because of the obvious dangers it would pose. My son also suffers from many environmental allergies. We know and understand the ones that he is been tested for, but it concerns me to think of what the trains would be hauling, and what it is going to emit and how much that we don't know my son is allergic to, in such close proximity to our home, barns, children, and livestock. I would like to thank you for taking the time to read over some of my concerns, and ask that you and the STB please take these into consideration when making your decision. I understand that you and your peers do not take your decisions lightly and an extreme amount of work and time go into making your decision. I hope and pray that some of my concerns help in shedding light on some of the detrimental effects in this area of Porter and LaPorte counties. Thank you for your time. Respectfully submitted, Nancy L. Hawkins"
Submitted by: Nancy L. Hawkins
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-35952/comment/EI-21953 · back to the docket sheet