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News
County OKs pact to upgrade railroad crossings : News : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisCounty OKs pact to upgrade railroad crossings
| Crossing at Mill Road among those targeted for improvement
| by Matt Schury
| 2/14/2013
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Some of Kendall County's railroad crossings could be getting an upgrade soon.
The Kendall County Board recently approved an agreement with the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) to have the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway Company repair grade crossings at three locations in the county.
The agreement was approved in a split 5-4 vote Feb. 5 just before the board heard concerns from Assistant State's Attorney David Berault about how the document lacked language indemnifying and insuring the county.
Board members Dan Koukol, Jeff Wehrli, Amy Cesich, John Purcell and Scott Gryder voted in favor of the agreement while Matt Prochaska, Judy Gilmour, Lynn Cullick and chairman John Shaw cast no votes. Board member Elizabeth Flower was absent.
"Our concern with the agreement as I expressed to you is indemnification and insurance issues," Berault said.
The pact, between the Illinois Commerce Commission, BNSF Railway Company, the City of Chicago, the City of Yorkville, Kendall County and the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), mentions upgrades to crossing at Mill Road in Yorkville, Kennedy Road in Yorkville and Little Rock Road in Kendall County as well as a crossing at Racine Avenue in Chicago.
Estimates in the agreement show $306,397 for materials and $204,924 for labor at a total of $511,321.
The concrete surfaces at each crossing will be repaired as well as the roadway approaches. The projects are not expected to cost the county and two municipalities any money as the entire cost of the materials will be funded by the state's Motor Fuel Tax fund and BNSF will pay all the cost of labor.
Berault said when the county enters into agreements with private contractors who are doing work on the county roads they ask the company to provide insurance which names the county as an additional insured and provides indemnification. He said it is "pretty standard stuff" when they work with contractors.
In the pact with BSNF, the ICC refused to add any language adding indemnification to the agreement. He said there are a number of reasons the county should be concerned the language is not included.
"The contract does involve traffic flow management, re-routing and that's kind of a red flag issue. If you go out and change the traffic patterns and you use flaggers, you put up signs and you do whatever you're going to do, and you do it wrong and somebody gets hurt then the people whose road that is are going to be named in that lawsuit," Berault said.
On the other hand, he added, that it doesn't automatically mean the county is liable if a lawsuit is file.
"There is nothing we are doing, we have no boots on the ground," he said, adding that if the county is named in a lawsuit the only avenue of recourse they have if a problem occurs is in the litigation itself.
Berault mentioned that the ICC hasn't even brought the issue up with the BNSF, because if they even raise the issue, the railroad has said they will walk away and not want to be involved in the process.
"It's basically-hey there's work to be done. You guys are going to do the work, you guys are not going to pay," he said.
Koukol said that they do this all the time with the ICC.
"It's pretty much standard practice with them," Koukol said.
Purcell added that Fran Klaas, the county's highway engineer recommended they approve the pact.
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