Accusations fly at ICC hearing on controversial Elwood railroad crossing

CHICAGO – Accusations flew Tuesday during an Illinois Commerce Commission hearing in Chicago over the Walter Strawn Drive railroad crossing closure.

Elwood attorneys accused Illinois Department of Transportation officials of intentionally omitting village officials and ICC staff from recent email correspondences and of trying to keep village attorneys from sitting in on a recent IDOT meeting pertaining to long-term engineering solutions to the crossing closure.

“It’s a criminal violation for individuals to try to thwart the intention of the Open Meetings Act,” Paul Streicher, attorney for Elwood, told the administrative law judge overseeing the case Tuesday.

The railroad crossing has been a point of contention for some time, pitting Elwood village officials against CenterPoint Properties, the developer of two nearby trucking intermodals, in a series of hearings on how to best address safety concerns there.

The ICC – which governs the state's railways – shut down the crossing Jan. 28. amid safety concerns.

Thousands of trucks have used the 1.7-mile stretch of road just west of Illinois Route 53 daily to reach the BNSF intermodal in Elwood or the Union Pacific intermodal in Joliet. That route now is blocked.

The next IDOT meeting is scheduled for April 24, and the state agency will “make every effort” to include every stakeholder on the email list, IDOT attorney Lawrence Parrish said Tuesday.

Parrish also told the administrative law judge the state agency has "new evidence" showing the negative effects the closure has had on the region. IDOT officials joined CenterPoint Properties earlier this month in filing separate requests to the ICC to reopen the crossing and to hold additional hearings on the matter.

“Just to touch on some [evidence] is that the truckers that are being diverted are using Laraway Road. ... There’s a school on Laraway Road and that is a serious safety concern, with the increased truck traffic there,” Parrish said.

Elwood attorneys also questioned IDOT’s recent request, noting it is a “complete contradiction” of IDOT’s earlier concurrence with the ICC’s order to close the crossing.

The administrative law judge agreed to Streicher’s request for a 60-day discovery period so he can look into IDOT’s “total turnaround” and whether the “newfound evidence” to be presented holds merit.

In its earlier filing, IDOT said neither Will County nor Joliet issues overweight trucking permits – a move that has severely restricted truck traffic in the nearby intermodals. Will County, however, earlier this month approved an increase for overweight trucks on Arsenal Road.

The ordinance is only in effect for a 90-day period, Parrish said.

“Our concern is, what do we do after the 90 days?” Parrish said.

The administrative law judge overseeing the case asked that IDOT officials report back to her during a March 26 hearing on the progress made in studying the logistics of a grade separation near Walter Strawn Drive and Route 53.

She also requested an update on another study of the Illinois Route 53 corridor, which stretches from Route 52 south to west Arsenal Road.

The full ICC board has until March 9 to respond to IDOT’s request for reopening the crossing.