Railroad to shut down Winfield's pedestrian crossing on Friday

Union Pacific Railroad on Friday will close down a pedestrian crossing next to the Winfield Metra station, forcing commuters to cross the tracks several hundred feet away.

The announcement by the railroad giant comes less than a week after Winfield's village board couldn't muster the votes needed to start work on a pedestrian underpass.

Union Pacific had planned on closing the Winfield train crossing as early as 2005 as part of an effort to eliminate uncontrolled crossings along its rail lines. But the company held off after Winfield officials made assurances they would pursue the underpass project.

Following the Friday-morning rush hour, Metra spokesman Tom Zapler said, crews will remove the wooden crosswalk and close the gap in a fence separating the train lines going into and out of Chicago.

Afternoon and evening commuters will then have to cross the tracks at Winfield Road, which is equipped with train signals.

Zapler didn't hide his displeasure with the village's latest decision, which yet again stalls construction of the train underpass.

"On a personal level, I cannot understand why somebody would be opposed to this project," Zapler said. "I pray that nobody is hurt on the tracks because of this decision."

Last week, the village board received assurances from Zapler that Union Pacific would cover the approximately $313,000 funding shortfall that would have to be paid by the village to build the approximately $4 million underpass. The remainder of the project's cost would be paid for by a combination of state and federal grants.

But trustees Glen Vade Bon Coeur and Joel Kunesh voted against amending the village budget to include funding for the underpass, and the measure failed under a 4-2 vote. Five were needed for the measure to pass.

Vade Bon Coeur couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday. Reached at his home, Kunesh said he simply didn't believe in the assurances made by Union Pacific and other backers of the project that the underpass could be built without any local cost.

"Financially, it could be a bad move for Winfield that could not only affect us but also future administrations," he said.

Kunesh wouldn't say if he thought debate should end on the project, which was proposed in 2001.

"Right now I don't have an answer on what should happen," Kunesh said. "But (Village President) Rudy (Czech) has some options. All the data is not quite done yet."

Czech disputed that claim.

"I don't know of any other options," Czech said. "We've done everything we could to delay this. I don't blame Union Pacific for going ahead and closing the crossing. It's like we've been taking them for a ride."

In two weeks, the village board will consider a measure to formally abandon the underpass project and relinquish any grant money obtained for the underpass, Czech said. The village has spent about $141,000 for design and engineering work on the underpass, and village officials said Winfield would have to cover that cost.

"Obviously I don't want this debate to end," Czech said. "Hopefully the more publicity goes out on what happened at this meeting, the more the public and supporters of this project will be able to voice their opinions to the board members who rejected it."