RFMA gets METRA to help improve railroad crossings 

By Patrick Butler 

Neighborhood residents and business leaders will join elected officials including U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-7th) and Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) Tuesday, Aug. 7, to celebrate the renovation of seven railroad crossings in the West Loop. The event will be held at Pioneer Meats, 360 N. Morgan St.

            Work began July 12 on the street grade-level crossings just south of Kinzie Street between Clinton Street and Racine Avenue, using $2.1 million in federal transportation funds. Construction is expected to continue through early September, according to Roger Romanelli, director of the Randolph/Fulton Market Association (RFMA).

            The 80-member RFMA lobbied METRA last year for the repairs, Romanelli said.

            "RFMA's mission is to help Chicago remain competitive with suburban industrial parks," Romanelli said. "As a result of those substantial improvements, we expect businesses to grow and new jobs to be created."

            He added that 300 businesses provide jobs in the RFMA service area.

            Romanelli and his group are thankful to METRA for the repairs and to Davis for the federal funds. The RFMA began pressing for repairs after hearing numerous complaints of cars and trucks damaged as they crossed the tracks.

            "It's been pretty bad," said Greg Shapps, a resident of the 300 block of south May Street. "About a month ago, I saw a car drive over the tracks and crack an axle. The potholes were that bad. I've seen tires get punctured when they go over. I've seen bikes flip over because the front tires couldn't get over the tracks. Dollies would flip over. Repairs are way overdue."

            Potholes often occurred where METRA property ended and City property began, so neither entity had been taking responsibility for fixing the problem.

            "As far as I know, this is the first real effort to do this," Shapps said.

            "Those tracks haven't been repaired for years," said Bill Milligan of Pioneer Meats. "We're right next to the tracks and it was really bad. Just driving a car over them, you had to go slow or it would do a lot of damage. It's been an ongoing problem.

            "We moved into this building back in '87," Milligan continued. "It was tolerable when we moved in. In fact, the tracks around Morgan were repaired maybe ten years ago. But it's not tolerable anymore."

            Romanelli said each crossing has or will have to be closed for five days, which he considers a small price to pay.

            "It's definitely needed," agreed Allied Waste's Jim Lanaga. "We use large trucks. [Track problems] won't do much wear and tear on those trucks, but they will wreak havoc on cars."

            "I don't know the last time they did any reconstruction of the grade crossings," Romanelli said. "This is part of the Kinzie Industrial Corridor. You've got a lot of heavy truck activity. And I think you had that for the past 50 to 60 years.

            "With so many trucks crossing, it depressed and loosened the tracks and made them uneven. So when trucks crossed, they had to slow down considerably. Cars that didn't sometimes blew out their tires," Romanelli continued.

            Asked if the poor condition of the tracks also might have something to do with today's trains being heavier than the trains used when that route was first built, METRA spokesman Patrick Waltron declined to speculate, saying "we're still collecting information."

            Romanelli noted METRA officials were "very receptive when we brought this to their attention. Within a month's time they had their safety inspectors meeting us in the field. And our organization brought business owners out to meet with METRA officials. They pretty quickly concurred that repairs needed to be made."

            Tire-friendly rubber is being used in several places at the crossings, replacing wood and asphalt.

            Romanelli described the track renovation as one of several recent RFMA accomplishments. "Another was helping to persuade the CTA to put a new Green Line station at Morgan and Lake," he said, noting the RFMA also is doing a diagonal parking feasibility study in some places along the Kinzie Industrial Corridor.

            "This is going to improve the efficiency of the companies here," Romanelli asserted. "We're getting more businesses in this area—more office space, retail, art galleries, and even some residents moving into the area. Our goal is to modernize business conditions to retain our businesses for generations to come and not lose them to the suburbs, and to make sure the City sticks with its 2009 timeline for completing the Morgan/Lake station."

            For more information, call the RFMA at (312) 2453-0822.