Report: $2.5M Spent, But Rail Crossing Congestion Panel Has Done Nothing
MELROSE PARK, Ill. (CBS) -- Twelve years ago, a panel was formed to fix a major congestion problem in the near western suburbs.
So what happened?
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's Mike Krauser reports
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As WBBM Newsradio's Mike Krauser reports, the West Cook Railroad Relocation and Development Authority was formed with good intentions. Its task was to relieve congestion at 25th Avenue and the Union Pacific railroad tracks on the border between Melrose Park, the Chicago Tribune recalled.
There is a freight yard at that location, and trains often create long delays for drivers, the Tribune reports.
But a dozen years after the panel was formed, the Tribune is reporting, the authority has yet to do much more than decide on a tunnel rather than a bridge. The task of making that decision has cost more than $2.5 million.
The money has been spent by the politically-connected members of the panel on consultants, lawyers, engineering studies, cars and rent, according to the newspaper.
No dirt has been moved, and the authority is now asking for more money from taxpayers to finish what it started nearly 12 years ago, the Tribune reported.
