Creek rail crossing may be updated

By Steve Sharp of the Daily Times staff
Friday, July 15, 2005 10:42 PM CDT

JOHNSON CREEK - Although it requires a final decision by the commissioner of railroads, a proposed order has been recommended by a hearing examiner for the modification of the railroad crossing on River Drive north of Johnson Creek.

State Commission of Railroads Examiner Douglas Wood conducted a hearing into the matter April 28 and heard that the Union Pacific Railroad does not object to the updating of the crossing and the village will pay for a portion of its construction.

Wood subsequently issued his findings and recommendations.

The at-grade crossing lies between County Highway Y and Old Highway 26 on River Drive. The speed limit on that east-west road is 35 mph and the crossing, which sees two trains filled with grain or scrap metal passing through it each day of the year, is currently controlled with stop signs and crossbucks. The trains travel to and from Clyman to the north. River Drive itself was recently refurbished and the railroad crossing is needed, according to Johnson Creek Village Engineer Craig Kunkel, for safety reasons and to provide continuity in the form of a more user-friendly roadway.

The hearing in April was the result of a petition calling for the alteration of the tracks that was filed by the village.

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The village proposes to take the existing crossing, which is 20 feet in width, and wants to widen it to 34 feet with 26 feet of driving lane surface. There would be 4 feet of paved shoulder on each side for bikes and pedestrians.

Kunkel said the improved railroad crossing is necessary to allow for development north of Interstate 94. Currently Johnson Creek has only County Highway B as a major east-west thoroughfare and that lies south of the interstate.

River Drive has never been a collector street before, so the village now wants more width on it to access the community's development to the north and west, he said. The village has also undertaken bike path planning into which this would fit. The village is bisected by Interstate 94 and home development will occur north of I-94 and west of state Highway 26.

"We don't want I-94 as a barrier," Kunkel said at the hearing.

There is a projected traffic volume of 1,000 vehicles per day following development in that area and these factors have driven the request for the reconstruction of River Drive.

Richard Ellison of the Union Pacific Railroad's Chicago, Ill., office told the hearing that the railroad would need 12 months to put in the new crossing, complete with electric signals to protect motorists, as well as bikers and pedestrians.

The signals are projected to cost $200,000 and the surface work is estimated at $62,698.

Wood recommended that the railroad install and maintain 12-inch LED automatic flashing lights with gates and other equipment that would be appropriate by Dec. 31, 2006. The village must also install and maintain advance warning signs by Nov. 1. The Union Pacific Railroad will bear 59 percent of the cost of the crossing construction and the village will bear the remaining costs. The village should bear 100 percent of the costs for signal materials and installation according to Wood's findings.

Kunkel said the village would like to undertake the project as soon as it is approved and the railroad, which will perform that work, would likely do so as soon as possible in construction year 2006.