Glen Ellyn studying pedestrian bridge by downtown train station

Drivers are idling for blocks, and pedestrians are stuck on one side of the tracks.

That's the picture when a freight train crawls through downtown Glen Ellyn. And with Union Pacific interested in adding a fourth track, village trustees are eager to find ways to relieve congestion.

With that in mind, the board plans to start applying for grants that could help trustees decide whether to proceed to a deeper study of either a tunnel or a bridge where cars could bypass the train tracks near the west side of the downtown. On the east, Village President Alex Demos and several trustees say they want to move forward on the first phase of designing a bridge where pedestrians could walk over the tracks.

Here's a look at some of the issues:

Funding

Jennifer Mitchell, one of the village's consultants, is confident the village can secure a state grant of up to $12 million from the Grade Crossing Protection Fund. State officials are looking for safety improvements that would alleviate the volume of traffic, Mitchell said. The village could tap into that money for engineering designs or bank it for construction.

Two types of federal grants also could be available, and Union Pacific could contribute to the project, too.

Mitchell's firm, HDR Inc., has completed a feasibility study of underpasses and overpasses at several locations just outside the central business district. Under the worst-case scenario - a tunnel that would end at Lorraine Street and involve the most structural work - the project could cost an estimated $49.5 million. Overpasses are generally cheaper, Mitchell said.

At this point, it's unclear what the village would pay out of its own pocket, said Bob Minix, the village's professional engineer.

A pedestrian bridge, meanwhile, would cost roughly $3 million, Mitchell said. The village could still be eligible for the state and federal grants, which would be separate from a vehicle project.

Demos said Union Pacific is interested in helping finance the pedestrian bridge. The railroad wants to see that structure tie in with a possible reconstruction of the train station - "much more than a remodel," Minix said. It would likely be built in the area of Forest Avenue, he said.

"They're champing at the bit for us to do this," Trustee Peter Ladesic said.

Design

HDR has only conceptually laid out where drivers could move above or below ground. The firm and village officials say two of the three existing grade-level crossings - at Main Street and Park Boulevard - weren't ideal locations, partly because they would cause too much disruption to the neighborhood.

So the village is concentrating on alternatives from Glenwood Avenue west, Minix said.

Trustees will have to vet major logistics. Roads could either be lowered or raised. Some options call for roundabouts and acquiring properties. And when a new crossing opens, Union Pacific typically prefers that another one closes.

"That is a negotiation discussion with the UP when you introduce a new crossing," Mitchell said.

Under one idea, a large S-shaped structure would travel under Pennsylvania Avenue and the tracks and finish at Lorraine. On the north side, the route would start at Prospect and Pennsylvania avenues, a "significantly higher elevation" than the train crossing, Trustee Tim Elliott said.

Mitchell said a roundabout could instead be moved down to Crescent Boulevard and Prospect, a lower intersection close to a proposed complex of apartments, retailers and restaurants at the old McChesney & Miller grocery store.

She stressed that engineers would work to "minimize and balance all these different types of impacts" to businesses and homeowners.

That first of three phases in the project would last as long as 24 months and seek feedback from commuters and residents.

Pros?

With traffic flowing through the downtown, Mitchell expects businesses would benefit.

"It will be easier to get from one side to the other," she said. "It really is an issue even just for people passing through. Maybe they'll now want to say, 'Hey I'll stop here' because it's easy to get back and forth through the downtown instead of sitting and waiting all the time when a train comes through, and the trains are going to increase. We know that. UP wants to add a line to it, so it's only going to get worse."

But Trustee Mark Senak said he is "by no means" sold on a vehicle structure and wants more numbers on the cost to the village. But he said he would keep an open mind if the village gets grant funding.

"I don't think the case has been made at this stage that there is a public safety or an economic development need that would support a vehicular underpass or overpass," he said.