Posted on 11/24/2016 12:54:28 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
A dispute that threatens decade-old plans to build a western access road to O'Hare International Airport is headed to a federal agency, as the Illinois Toll Highway Authority sues the Canadian Pacific Railway.
In a petition filed today, the tollway asked the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to allow it to force CP to sell or grant easements to the tollway for portions of railroad property immediately to the north of the railway's huge Bensenville Yards. The tollway indicated it also may eventually need access to the yard itself. The Surface Transportation Board is the federal agency that regulates railroads, and the tollway wants the agency to give it what amounts to eminent domain power.
Acquisition or air-rights use of CP's property is critical to the $3.4 billion Elgin O'Hare Expressway to the airport's western edge, a project which in some areas already is under construction, the tollway's filing notes.
Earlier:
• Is the O'Hare western access plan going off the rails?
• Tollway, railroad exchange new barbs over O'Hare western access
• Don't give up on western access to O'Hare
"By refusing to permit the construction of highway bridges over its tracks, CPR is essentially preventing access to the western side of O'Hare because its tracks travel the majority of O'Hare's western border," the tollway asserts.
Work on one key interchange "is set to begin in 2017," it adds. "For almost 12 years, until mid-2016 CPR remained silent while multiple public agencies conducted hearings and studies that fixed the location and design of the western access interchange. . . .Any delays at this point will cost the public millions of dollars."
Says a spokesman for Canadian Pacific, when asked for comment on the lawsuit, "We are reviewing the matter and have no comment at this time." But in a series of recent communications, the company has made it clear in blunt language that it does not aim to accommodate the tollway.
"I have no intention of engaging with your attempts to rewrite history," Keith Creel, CP's president and chief operating officer, wrote in a Nov. 18 letter to the tollway (embedded below). "Nor do I believe that engaging further on the tollway's proposal to route through the Bensenville Yard is a productive endeavor. As we have made clear both in meetings and in correspondence with the tollway, the tollway's proposal would unduly interfere with CP's freight rail operations and would jeopardize CP's ability to meet current and future demand for rail service. We believe the tollway has other options . . . and urge the tollway to pursue them."
CP also has suggested it needs all of the yard to deal with the complications of Chicago's bad weather.
The dispute between the railway and tollway has raged for well over a year. Essentially the tollway, headed by former DuPage County Board President Bob Schillerstrom, argues that the railway, which recently had a management change, has gone back on a gentleman's agreement that it would reach a deal for a reasonable price. But that deal never was signed.
Both sides have attempted to enlist big-name political heat. Schillerstrom has spoken to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the Senate's No. 2 Democrat. CP, in its Nov. 18 letter, carbon-copied all members of the Surface Transportation Board and President-elect Donald Trump's transition team.
Schillerstrom says he played the legal card because "CP gave us no other choice. They refuse to work with us. They won't stand behind what they agreed to do."
Schillerstrom says he's seeking expedited action that would result in a Surface Transportation Board order "in months," but conceded the process could take considerably longer.
The project is considered particularly significant to the western suburbs, which hope to attract new office, hotel and retail development if O'Hare can be entered without going miles to the east and proceeding through Rosemont.
Can the Surface Transportation Board kick the railroad out of part of its own yard! After all this is Chicago, where nothing is normal.
If the railroad has eminent domain, I’m thinking they should sketch out some surface crossings for some of the tollways, and let it be known they’ll be putting the gates down for switching operations during rush hour to accommodate union work rules.
I’m of a mind that the railroad should consider moving their operation out of Chicago, whereby they would undoubtedly save a ton of money on taxes and aggravation. I am certain that many communities would love to have the business.
THAT oughtta be interesting.
If the tollway really wants it bad enough, it might propose to rebuild the yard for the railroad.
Well, they can’t choose their existing network of tracks. Not as easy as, say, putting it in Gary, Indiana.
True. Which means that it will cost Chicago plenty to finance and build the move.
Maybe someone needs to build another airport outside of the city limits. That might be a little easier, though everyone nearby would fight against it.
I’m surprised Chicago hasn’t taken over CPRR land via eminent domain.
That may be a threat/risk in Chicago’s back pocket.
O’Hare was built outside of the Chicago city limits. That’s part of the reason why the Kennedy Expressway was built when and where it was built. The Kennedy and a small right of way on both sides are what connect the rest of Chicago to O’Hare. Not the original gerrymander, but the same general idea.
And the one item not covered in this story is that, as of right now, the Elgin O’Hare Expressway does not run to Elgin or O’Hare. Only in Chicago....
A local government cannot exercise eminent domain over railroad property unless/until the Surface Transportation Board of the United States Department of Transportation has found that the public convenience and necessity are served by the abandonment of the property for rail purposes.
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