By Wilson Brown
Staff writer
Published: 6/7/06 in Villa Park Argus/Lombard Spectator
Lombard's Transportation and Safety Committee moved a step forward June 5 in its fight to keep children and other residents from taking dangerous shortcuts along the Union Pacific railroad tracks after two area fatalities occurred on the tracks just weeks apart earlier this year.
In the coming weeks, village of Lombard staffers will begin taking bids from commercial nurseries and landscapers to plant thorny shrubs near the railroad tracks -- hoping the large shrubs will be a deterrent to children and more visually appealing than chain-link fences.
Planting the large, 4-foot high shrubs at North Ahrens, North Highland, North Chase and North Westmore avenues -- the four cul-de-sacs that dead-end at the tracks -- could cost up to $130,000, Lombard Public Works Director Wes Anderson said.
Committee members are hoping to compare the price of the four potential barriers to one long thorny barrier that would run the entire stretch of Westmore and Grace Street.
Once committee members receive the results at their meeting Monday, July 10, they will then make a recommendation to the Village Board at its August meeting, said Trustee Steve Sebby, the committee's chairman. If the village approves the plan, workers could start planting the shrubs in September, he said.
Lombard and Villa Park residents pitched the idea of thorny bushes and shrubs during the committee's meeting last month.
A grass-roots campaign to purchase shrubs began after Kristen Bowen, 14, of Lombard died when she was hit by a freight train in February while crossing the tracks a quarter mile from Addison Road.
Sharon Lechtenberg, a Lombard resident who lives near the North Ahrens Avenue cul-de-sac, said the thorny hedges would be extremely helpful but it might not work for each neighborhood.
One Villa Park resident was glad to see progress being made.
"I find this really refreshing because we left the last meeting frustrated that we just focused on what we couldn't do than what we could do," Donna Conrad said. "I like that both villages are working together."
Wilson Brown's e-mail address is:
wbrown@libertysuburban.com