Train platform work will ease downtown Libertyville congestion

An evening drive through downtown Libertyville should be easier by the end of the summer, the result of a project to keep trains from blocking Milwaukee Avenue.

Metra, the commuter rail agency, is set to replace, lengthen and shift the platform serving the Milwaukee North line to the west.

That means trains arriving from Chicago will be able to stop further from the Milwaukee Avenue crossing, allowing the gates to go up more quickly.

“This will be a nice improvement for our riders and it will improve traffic flow for people driving on Milwaukee,” said Michael Gillis, a Metra spokesman. “That will help the trains clear the signal so Milwaukee isn't blocked as much.”

The $427,000 project is scheduled to begin in mid-May and will take about four months to complete. The station will not be affected.

The platform will be replaced and moved so the eastern edge will be about 350 feet further west than it is now. It also will be lengthened from 675 to 806 feet.

Gillis said the main reason for the project is to help trains clear the crossing protection circuit at Milwaukee Avenue so the gates aren't down as long.

“That's been a goal for a long time,” said Fire Chief Rich Carani. “It's an improvement.”

The work mostly will help with trains arriving in Libertyville during the evening rush hour. Even though those trains already have crossed Milwaukee Avenue, the gates stay down because they haven't cleared it enough to deactivate the crossing gates and signals. In some cases, the end of the train blocks the road.

“They'll be able to pull in and the gates can remain open,” said John Spoden, the village's director of community development.

Trains heading to Chicago also trip the gates, even though they stop before reaching Milwaukee Avenue, because the protection system can't assume the train is going to stop, according to Gillis.

That will still happen once the platform work is done. In some cases, the gates will go back up as the train is loading and then down as the train moves out of the station. At other times, the gates will stay down the entire time based in part on the length of the train.

Spoden said the village's long range plan calls for the station to be relocated to the west as part of a redevelopment of the area with townhouses or condos.

Under terms of an agreement with the village that runs until November 2012, Newton Instrument Co., is required to donate enough land to expand the Metra lot by 200 spaces. But that plan is on hold.

“It's been very quiet, I think, just because of the market,” Spoden said.