Although it may take some time to be realized, Elmwood Park is taking the first steps towards building an underpass beneath the Grand Avenue train tracks.
Elmwood Park Village President Angelo “Skip” Saviano said at the Oct. 19 Elmwood Park Village Board meeting that he and several other village mayors and presidents from the area made a trip to Washington D.C. to talk to their respective congressmen and senators about their needs.
One of the requests high on his list was the construction of an underpass at 76th and Grand avenues that would go under the railroad tracks just west of that intersection.
“It was a very productive two days in Washington D.C.,” Saviano said.
So much so that Saviano has received support for the estimated $90 million project from Sen. Mark Kirk.
In a letter dated Oct. 16, Kirk asked U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx to consider Elmwood Park’s application for a federal grant for the project.
“The village of Elmwood Park is facing a serious infrastructure problem,” Kirk said in a written statement. “This federal grant would help improve the safety of the Grand Avenue rail crossing for the 25,000 village residents and the tens of thousands of people who pass through the community every year.”
The village is asking for $5 million through a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant and another $5 million from other federal funds. They should know sometime in April whether the grant applications have been approved, Saviano said.
Saviano said he would like to look for funds from the state, but with Springfield still locked up on the Illinois budget, he doesn’t know how long that would take.
“We’re hoping at some point down the line, we can get a capital budget and get some participation on the project from [the state],” he said.
The $10 million from the federal government would pay for the first and second phases of engineering, Saviano said.
“Engineering runs about 10 percent of the overall cost of the project,” he said.
For now, Saviano said he’s trying to build a strong base of support for the project. He says it’ll take about 10 years to get the project completed.
“To sell a project, you’ve got to get as many people involved in it as possible,” Saviano said. “Once you get them all together it gives the project credibility.”
But Saviano believes he will get it done and says it’s necessary because of the number of accidents that take place in that area and the traffic delays due to trains.
“It’s going to improve the quality of life for residents who have to cross those tracks every day to get their kids to school or people who have to get to work,” he said. “If you get a freighter and a couple of commuters [on the tracks], you can sit there for at least 20 minutes.”
He said convenience overrides everything.
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“Everybody wants an underpass,” Saviano said. “They want to cross those tracks without waiting.”
Twitter: @DavidDPollard