Residents living near the Union Pacific train tracks near Westmore Avenue gained some allies Monday in their effort to improve safety in their neighborhood and avoid another railway tragedy.
The residents are lobbying for a fence along the railroad and for a safe crossing closer to their homes than Addison Road in Villa Park and Grace Street in Lombard, which are several blocks away.
The campaign follows the death of teenager Kristen Bowen, who was killed in February by a passing train while she tried to cross the tracks from Ahrens Avenue in Lombard to North Terrace Park in Villa Park. She had seen one train pass but was clipped by another going the opposite direction as she made her way across to meet with a friend in the park that night.
"It’s very dangerous," neighbor Vicki McMahon said. "We’ve got 30-some kids on our block. Every day that’s on my mind, those tracks."
Resident Alicia King read a neighbor’s letter that asked: "How many more years before the village acts? It’s time to act."
The letter suggested the village either install a pedestrian crossing near the park or extend Westmore Avenue and create a vehicular and pedestrian crossing at the tracks there.
Resident Sharon Lechtenberg added, "We definitely need something because there’s defiantly kids crossing."
The residents submitted a petition with dozens of signatures of neighbors supporting increased safety measures. The paperwork also unofficially granted the village permission from property owners abutting the tracks to install fencing on their private property.
"That’s a really good step, a good start," said Trustee Steve Sebby, chairman of the advisory panel.
Village officials said legal paperwork, including intergovernmental agreements with Villa Park, Union Pacific and possibly the state, still would be required before any barriers could be installed. Committee members said they could see the need, especially give that youths from the south side of the tracks attended schools with peers who live on the other side and given the presence of a park adjoining the tracks.
"It’s almost an open invitation for the kids to cross," committee member Jean Nolan said.
The residents plan to attend a Villa Park forum on the issue later this month to lobby for fencing, as well as possibly a path in the area to encourage pedestrians to walk to the nearest designated crossing. The group said they also plan to approach Villa Park-based Elementary District 45 with a petition urging the school system to redraw school boundaries and send their children to a school south of the tracks. Parents said if their children didn’t for friendships with kids from the other side of the tracks they would be less likely to cross them.
Reprinted with permission from the Daily Herald