After years of discussion, The Village Of Barrington has sent out the official letter this past October calling for the construction of the underpass on Route 14. The Village of Barrington has been trying to accomplish an underpass at this location for years.

The Village has been trying to obtain the permits for the underpass since 2007, due to the Canadian National Railroad (CNR) line has been adding more and more trains. In the next two years, the CNR will be adding nine more. This will increase the number of trains running through Barrington to 29.

Although the increase in trains is a big reason why the plans for the underpass have been finalized, there are two bigger problems that greatly concern the Village.

First, the increase in trains has caused severe traffic congestion and has become a safety hazard. Another reason is due to the commute to the hospital. Since the number of traffic jams has been increasing, it has been extremely difficult to access Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital. All of this should change once the construction team breaks ground in early 2022.
There were several meetings on whether an underpass or overpass would be best for the community. After several of these meetings, the idea of a 30-foot overpass did not seem ideal despite the price difference between the two options.

The overall cost is $73.5 million, the Village is expecting $14.5 million to be received during the construction from Candian National, federal, state, and local funding. The majority of the funding came from the Federal Surface Transportation Program (STP).

They awarded $48 million to accomplish the underpass. The remaining $11 million has already been obtained from previous funding from 2011-2019. They are going to break ground with $59 million in hopes to get $14.5 million throughout the construction process.

The Jewel Park neighborhood has been tearing down houses for nearly a year before the Village received permits to build the underpass in order to create space for the construction. .In all, the Village is going to try to compensate homeowners with the full worth of their homes, most of them won’t receive it.

Owners of the torn-down houses attended meetings to discuss the underpass, trying to fight for their homes. They argued that it would cost too much time, money, and inconvenience. the underpass will be taking eight of the neighborhood’s homes.

Since the Village has finalized its plans for construction in the Jewel Park neighborhood, families have been putting their houses up and onto the market to get away from the future construction.

One of the most pressing issues for the community is time. The start date is set for sometime in 2022 and the estimated completion date is set for 2024; however, it could possibly take longer.

Fortunately for the community, Route 14 will still be open to the public. The Village has plans on building a temporary road that will maintain all four lanes during construction. The construction has been long-awaited and the Village is ready to start making the Barrington commute easier.