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On June 20, Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) program organizers plan to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for a grade separation project in Bridgeview, Ill. The event will be attended by CREATE and railroad officials, U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.), Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and Bridgeview Mayor Steven Landek.
 
The $27 million project calls for grade separating four CSX Transportation and Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Co. tracks and 71st Street near Toyota Park, a multi-use stadium. The street is designated as one of two primary access routes feeding into the stadium. The grade separation will reduce rail and street congestion, maintain access to the stadium, and improve air quality in the city and Toyota Park, according to CREATE organizers.
 
The project received federal funding through the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, program. Work will be completed by a Lorig Construction/Lindahl Bros. Inc. joint venture, which was the project’s winning bidder.

The CREATE program includes 70 projects — such as overpasses, underpasses, viaduct improvements, grade crossing enhancements, and track and signal upgrades — that are designed to restructure, modernize and expand the Chicago region’s passenger- and freight-rail network. Currently, 13 projects are under construction.

CREATE partners include Amtrak, the Association of American Railroads, Belt Railway Co. of Chicago, BNSF Railway Co., CSXT, CN, Canadian Pacific, Indiana Harbor Belt, Norfolk Southern Railway, Union Pacific Railroad, the Illinois Department of Transportation and Chicago DOT.