If you have ideas for how the railroad crossings at Delaplaine Road or Harlem Avenue in Riverside can be improved, regional researchers would like to hear from you.
The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning is moving into the second phase of its Berwyn-Riverside railroad grade crossing study. It first sought to determine whether seven railroad crossings, from Delaplaine Road east to Ridgeland Avenue in Berwyn, need improvement and now seeks to rank potential ways in which to do so.
At the village board meeting on Oct. 2, Tom Murtha, a project manager at CMAP, presented Riverside trustees with an update on the project, which first began in 2019.
Murtha explained the study is being undertaken in collaboration with the BNSF railway, the Illinois Department of transportation and the Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways as well as Riverside and Berwyn.
He said the first phase of the project had been completed, in which the researchers determined through an online survey and conversations they had with residents and business owners by going door to door that there was need to improve each of the crossings.
The researchers also “collected and evaluated a large amount of safety and operations data for both highway and rail systems” to make their determination, Murtha said in an email to the Landmark.
The areas needing most improvement included the reliability of vehicle travel time as well as the safety and mobility of motorists, pedestrians, cyclists and emergency vehicle drivers, all of which were found to be diminished by extended gate closures at the crossings, Murtha said.
Now that the study is entering the next phase, the researchers are seeking input on how these areas can be improved from consultants in addition to stakeholders like public officials and members of the public themselves. Once a list of possible plans is created, Murtha said the team will decide on criteria by which to evaluate them so they can be ranked.
He said the possible solutions could include a grade separation at Harlem Avenue, which would enable the road to stay open as trains pass by making use of vertical space.
He said the researchers had reached out to local groups like hospitals, school boards and municipal staff for input alongside residents of the area, from whom they solicited input through postcards delivered in an every-door-direct-mail campaign. Murtha said they reached 5,000 households across Riverside and Berwyn through this method.
If the second phase of the study sets forth a solution that could progress into engineering work, Murtha said the county had agreed to carry it forward through engineering and possibly into construction.
Murtha said the group will seek input through the end of October, at which point the study will “go quiet for a while” before seeking input on the set of possible solutions from the public and from community advisory groups like Riverside’s, which includes members of village staff, the Olmsted Society of Riverside and the village’s volunteer preservation, economic development and landscape advisory commissions.
The researchers plan to write a report on one or several of the higher-ranked ideas for federal and IDOT review, with a goal of finishing by the end of November 2026.
There was no action for Riverside trustees to take, and, according to a village memo including in the meeting’s agenda packet, any projects the village opts to participate in down the line would include cost sharing per IDOT’s policy. The department would also be responsible for finding state and federal funds to cover the majority of project costs.
Correction, Oct. 20, 2025, 4:50 p.m.: A previous version of this article misrepresented how the researchers found there was a need to improve grade crossings. They evaluated safety and operations data for highway and rail systems in addition to seeking public input. The Landmark regrets this error.
