$48M Grant To Pay for Route 14 Underpass

BARRINGTON, IL — Village of Barrington officials announced thist past week that $48 million in federal Surface Transportation Program (STP) funding has been approved by the federal transportation Metropolitan Planning Organization and Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) for a long-awaited grade separation of the Canadian National Railroad at U.S. Route 14 in Barrington near the intersection of Lake Zurich Road, according to a news release. The $48 million award, which comes from a newly created regional STP fund, provides the necessary funding for the underpass.

Officials said $10 million of the $48 million award will be available immediately to complete Phase II engineering work, final right-of-way acquisitions, and state permitting for the underpass. This phase will begin in January 2020 and continue into 2022.

The remaining $38 million of this current award will be spent during the construction phase, which is anticipated to start in late 2022, with substantial completion estimated in 2024, according ot the news release.

During the STP regional application review process, the Barrington Route 14 underpass project received the highest score among 68 total projects in the Chicago region. The STP project evaluation was based on project readiness, regional transportation impact, and support of regional planning factors, according to village officials.

A significant factor in the project’s high score was the fact that Phase I engineering work had already been completed, and a considerable amount of the needed land acquisition had been achieved in advance of award funding, according to the news release.

Village officials said the timing of the underpass funding could not be more important, as the Canadian National Railroad announced in early 2019 that it plans to run as many as 9 additional trains per day through Barrington — a 50 percent increase — once its double-track project between Elgin and Hoffman Estates is approved. This will bring the average number of CN trains running through the village to 29 per day, according to the news release.

Since Canadian National announced its plan to acquire the EJ&E Railroad in 2007, the village of Barrington has worked tirelessly to remediate the congestion and safety issues that occur when a CN train obstructs all four Barrington road crossings numerous times per day. With over 80 percent of village properties lying on the southeastern side of the CN tracks, the majority of the community cannot access Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital on the northwest side during train delays, a critical life-safety concern that the underpass will alleviate.

“It has been a long and arduous journey to achieve a grade separation at Route 14 in Barrington,” said Village of Barrington President Karen Darch. “It is gratifying to see that our federal, state and regional officials have realized the critical importance of this project from both a transportation and safety standpoint. It brings me great joy to know that in just a few short years, our community will finally have some relief from the congestion, traffic, and public safety issues that have become almost untenable since Canadian National purchased the EJ&E railroad over a decade ago.”