CREATE: GS14 - 71st Street

Update: Eddie caught a picture of a crane used during construction. Now that I have seen how slowly the trains run on the IHB, I have a better appreciation for the importance of grade separations with it.

After checking out the I&M Canal Visitor's Center, part of my field trip plan was to use 71st street to get to get over to Harlem Avenue. The underpass on 71st is the $30.6M GS14 project for CREATE, which was completed in November 2013. The tracks are owned by B&OCT (now CSXT) but dispatched by IHB.

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I left the second picture as crooked as proof that my eyes were on the road and not the viewfinder. To take these pictures, I set the camera lens on its widest angle, 18 mm, and then shoot blind. I normally post process a picture to crop down to the part I intended and to straighten the picture.

The decorations on the retaining walls are a nice touch.

I'm still trying to figure out why Chicago builds underpasses instead of overpasses. I now understand why flooding of underpasses is such as big deal when we have heavy rains. And it would take a lot less steel to hold up a road than a railroad.

Update: a zchcsse1 1999 video of trains on the IHB+B&OCT tracks shows what this crossing looked like before the underpass was built. I would estimate the trains are going up to about 30 mph.

Edward Kwiatkowski posted

Construction of the West 71st Street underpass viaduct.
Bridgeview Illinois. September 2012.

Tunneling underneath the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad.

Back when it was a grade crossing.

Scott Malec posted
Quadruple meet at 71st Street in Bridgeview on 10/7/2006.
Dennis DeBruler If it was that busy, then the grade separation done in 2013 was long overdue.
Scott Malec To be fair, the two trains on the right were not moving. But traffic here could still get intense. I can't believe it's already been 5 years since the grade separation was completed.
Dennis DeBruler I haven't watched the IHB much, but the trains I've seen are moving slowly. At least on the Racetrack, the freights move through pretty quickly. It is the commuters parked at the station that tie up traffic.

Scott Malec posted
Another quagmire on the IHB at 71st Street in Bridgeview on 6/2/2007. All four tracks are occupied. The two northbound trains are either exchanging or getting new crews.
Chuck Mager SNAFU!! Typical IHB train management!! Good for OT, tho.