After more than a decade of planning, New Lenox is poised to see an overpass built over the Canadian National rail tracks at Gougar Road, with Will County securing $27 million in federal rail grants to contribute to the roughly $52 million project.
The funding is part of a broader $105.8 million allocation from the Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program, which supports projects such as overpasses, underpasses, closures and track relocations, according the Federal Railroad Administration. The funding will also support five other rail projects across Illinois.
New Lenox Mayor Tim Baldermann said the village has explored the possibility of an overpass since he began his first term in 2009, when Canadian National Railway acquired 198 miles of track from the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway.
The need for an overpass is critical, Baldermann said, as Canadian National’s use of the tracks often blocks access between the south and north sides of town at Gougar Road, Nelson Road, Cedar Road and other streets farther east, causing significant traffic delays and hindering access to Silver Cross Hospital.
“We have a hospital on the north side of town. Ambulances need to get there,” he said. “We really thought, when this acquisition took place, that Canadian National should have contributed more toward this grade separation project, but the Federal Railroad Administration, unbelievably, said our people were not really impacted by this acquisition, which was not true.”
The crossing is also near Lincoln-Way West High School, which causes transportation delays for students, said Jeff Ronaldson, director of the Will County Division of Transportation.
“That’s one factor, and we do see increasing traffic from a lot of trucking companies that go through there and use that roadway, so it just stops traffic for quite a while,” he said. “A train can shut down all those north, south roads pretty easily. So we need a grade separation to make sure that one is open no matter what.”
Ronaldson said the village completed the first phase of engineering in 2022, in partnership with the county. While Will County owns Gougar Road, the village is most affected by the crossing, which prompted the collaboration, Baldermann said.
The village secured about half a million dollars for phase one engineering of the overpass, Baldermann said, which found Gougar Road is the only viable location, as construction at Nelson, Cedar or other intersecting roads would not be feasible. The village also secured funds for sound barriers for people who lived along the rail lines, and crossing improvements, he said.
While an overpass has been in the village’s sights for years, the project comes with a hefty price tag of $52 million, according to Ronaldson. The grant funding awarded to the county will cover a significant portion of the costs.
Ronaldson said the county secured an $18 million grant from the Illinois Commerce Commission, which will cover the agency’s share of the nonfederal match as well as other construction costs. The funds come from the state’s Grade Crossing Protection Fund, a grant program administered by the commission to cover most of the costs for improvements to public highway-rail crossings, according to the commission’s website.
Ronaldson said the county and the village will be responsible for the remainder of the match.
As of Thursday, Baldermann said he is not sure how much, if any, of the match will be contributed by the village.
“There hasn’t been any formal discussion about the village’s contribution yet, as we didn’t know how much would be offset by federal funding,” he said.
So far, Ronaldson said the county has invested $5.4 million in the project, primarily for the design.
Will County officials are targeting construction to begin in 2026, Ronaldson said. During the work, he said the northbound lane will remain open to ensure first responders can access the hospital.
According to the Federal Railroad Administration, accidents at grade crossings are the second leading cause of rail-related deaths in the U.S., with more than 2,000 incidents and 200 fatalities annually, while blockages from slow-moving or stalled trains also cost time and resources, cutting off access to roads and delaying first responders.
Over the last year, the Federal Railroad Administration received more than 26,000 complaints of blocked crossings through the agency’s Public Blocked Crossing Incident Reporter.
Given Will County’s growth, County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant said the project will improve access and safety for residents.
“By eliminating delays from blocked rail crossings, we are increasing mobility for residents and emergency responders in a heavily trafficked corridor,” she wrote.
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