134-year-old Metra bridge to be replaced in Elgin
A 134-year-old Metra bridge in Elgin will be replaced with the help of a $14 million federal grant.
The U.S. Department of Transportation gave the money to Metra to replace the 500-foot bridge over the Fox River, which serves about 50 commuter trains and up to eight freight trains per day.
The bridge, which crosses the river south of Route 20, is the only single-track portion of Metra's Milwaukee West Line and a frequent cause of delays, officials said. The plan is to build a new double-track bridge to eliminate the bottleneck while upgrading technology.
That will spur local economic development, improve safety and save commuters thousands of hours, U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth said in a news release. “Traffic is only going to increase in the future and our region's infrastructure needs to keep up if we want our economy to grow,” said Duckworth, who has been an advocate for the project.
The total cost of the project is $34 million, including $6 million from Canadian Pacific Railroad and $14 million in local funding through Metra, said Metra spokesman Michael Gillis. Metra initially applied for $17 million in federal funds.
Local funding could come from Metra fare revenues — traditionally used for operating costs, but also for local matches to capital projects — or state or RTA bond money, Gillis said. “We haven't decided how we are going to cover the amount because we just got this announcement yesterday,” he said Tuesday.
Engineering would take place through 2016 with construction starting sometime in 2017, according to a “very preliminary” timeline, Gillis said.
The bridge is an integral part of Chicago's rail infrastructure, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said in the release.
“Metra's improvement plan will bring an outdated bridge into the 21st century with new technology that will dramatically improve safety and double tracking that will increase speed and reliability for the 6.8 million passengers that rely on the Milwaukee West line every year.”