Glen Ellyn village board candidates debate need for underpass

The lone incumbent in Glen Ellyn's village board race, Pete Ladesic, says the community needs another underpass near downtown, at least in part to improve accessibility for emergency vehicles.

But the other candidates vying for three open spots on the board - John Kenwood, Carol Fontana and Mark Senak - aren't quite as convinced.

While Fontana, Senak and Kenwood received the support of the village's Civic Betterment Party in December, Ladesic is running as an independent in the April 7 election.

The village board last year authorized a firm to conduct feasibility studies of alternatives to surface crossings at the railroad tracks for both pedestrians and vehicles in the central business district.

The results of that study by Chicago-based HDR Inc. indicate construction costs for a vehicular underpass or overpass would be near $21 million.

Village Manager Mark Franz said in an email that the project could wind up costing much more, but grant funding is available to significantly lower the costs for the village.

The project likely will be discussed later this year to determine if the village will fund the next phase of engineering work as part of its 2016 budget, Franz said.

Other than Ladesic, village board candidates say they're not convinced the benefits of a new overpass or underpass would outweigh the costs. Senak said he has not yet seen a "cogent" case made that such a structure is needed either for public safety reasons or economic development.

"Although I am very open to listening to whoever wants to try and make that case, I have not heard it," Senak said. "I would be interested to see why there's a belief that the village should expend a substantial amount of revenue - taxpayer revenue - to construct such a structure without a good basis for doing it."

Fontana, meanwhile, said she likes the idea but would prefer to improve the current underpass at Taylor Avenue by adding a separate pedestrian walk-through.

The village board already has agreed to improve that tunnel and recently selected an engineering firm to work on a project that would build a separate pedestrian underpass at that site.

Fontana said a new vehicular route would be too expensive unless it was tied to another development.

"To make it a stand-alone project that just happens on its own, I don't see it having a high enough benefit for us," she said. "I think it's going to be too expensive for the benefit (we'd) get. And it'd be very disruptive to the central business district."

Kenwood, the current Glen Ellyn Elementary District 41 school board president, said he would prefer an underpass and if the village decides to build one, it should be constructed west of Main Street.

"If we did do an underpass, we shouldn't do it based on just what we think the footprint of downtown is now, but what the footprint might be 20 or 30 years from now," Kenwood said.

He said he does not think rail traffic is going to slow down any time soon, but he doesn't know if the village "absolutely" needs another overpass or underpass.

"To me, it really just depends on how much it would cost, does it look right, is it in the right place based on where the community is growing, and does it improve the experience of people trying to get across town," Kenwood said.

But Ladesic said the village needs a new route for traffic, and he prefers an underpass.

"All the studies are showing train traffic is just going to increase exponentially over the next several decades," Ladesic said. "We have to prepare for that."

He said all of the village's grade-level crossings have been blocked several times by stopped trains.

"It's paralyzing from a retail standpoint because people are trying to shop downtown, they get in their car and they go to cross the tracks and they're stuck there," he said.

Ladesic said a new pathway also could benefit emergency vehicles.

"It would be another valve, it would be another point where fire trucks and ambulances could get across the tracks," he said.