$64 million project launched to end Bensenville bottleneck

It's one of the most ungraceful traffic confluences in the suburbs. But the bottleneck of Irving Park and York roads and the Canadian Pacific Railroad tracks in Bensenville is about to see $64 million in relief.

State and transportation officials announced on Monday the launch of a project to reconstruct the intersection by lowering Irving Park and raising the railroad bridge. It will also widen all four legs of the intersection.

Main construction is slated to start next spring and continue into fall 2013.

As trucks and cars idled near the intersection Monday, dozens of union workers and local officials listened to Gov. Pat Quinn and Gary Hannig, Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary, outline why this project is so vital.

Hannig noted that 37,000 cars pass through the intersection daily, but nearly a fifth are delayed by the 25 slow-moving trains.

“I think anyone who has driven this way knows it's been a bottleneck for years,” Quinn said.

This project is being coordinated with a second one: elimination of a grade-level crossing in which Irving Park Road will be routed under the Union Pacific Railroad tracks. Both projects are on a similar timetable.

Bensenville Village President Frank Soto said the coordination of these two projects is key for economic development in the village, along with the upcoming expansion of the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway that will create western access to O'Hare International Airport.

“The problem we've had here is a lack of connectivity in the past that has led to lost potential growth and opportunities, but that is what this project cures,” he said.

Officials noted the Bensenville grade separation will create immediate construction jobs, as well as other long-term positions they hope will result from business expansion. They estimate the total new jobs at more than 830.

Bill Marston, the chief executive officer nearby of Elk Grove Villlage-based Service Shipping, Inc., said he welcomes a project that will end an “economic nightmare.”

“Most traffic has to sit through four to six lights to get through,” he said. “We have faced delays, lost clients and lost untold fuel costs.”