Railroads need to make crossings safe
It is long past time for the municipalities in the western suburbs to get together and demand that the railroads do something about the crossings that block traffic when trains go by.
As an example, last Monday afternoon here in Brookfield, the gates on Maple Avenue were stuck down for at least a half-hour that I know of. Also on Wednesday evening around 9 p.m., there was a train stalled, blocking the Prairie Avenue crossing. How long it sat there, I don’t know.
I know when an express train flies through the intersection at 70 mph, on the same surface cars and people use, common sense tells me that that is bad news.
What worked in the 1920s and 1930s cannot be acceptable today. It is way past time for the railroads to build overpasses or whatever is needed to make these crossings safe for all.
Several years ago, there was a meeting at Lyons Township High School and the railroads said that the municipalities should shoulder the cost of fixing the crossings, but it is the railroads with their long and many trains that are making the money, so they should do what is right.
Ted Schwartz
Brookfield
