Civiltech excels at guiding a project through all phases, from the original idea to construction, and it’s exciting when that project involves all of our teams. The US Route 14 Grade Separation at CN/EJ&E Railway for the Village of Barrington is an example of such a project which not only required extensive collaboration between Civiltech departments and the project’s multitude of stakeholders but also presented interesting design challenges.
The CN Railway acquired EJ&E Railway in 2008 to serve as a bypass around Chicago. As a result, the volume and length of freight trains are expected to increase significantly. The existing rail line crosses three important arterial routes at grade within the Village where nearly 30,000 vehicles per day cross the tracks, and traffic studies predicted increased impacts to vehicular mobility and emergency response times. The Village, demonstrating tremendous leadership, faced these challenges and is leading the $60+ million project from now complete preliminary design through the forthcoming construction, a unique undertaking for a municipality. 
Civiltech provided Phase I Design and Environmental studies to look at alternatives. With extensive public outreach and coordination between the Federal Highway Administration, IDOT, and the Village, a highway underpass was the preferred alternative. Civiltech is completing the Phase II Design, with letting anticipated for fall, and our Phase III Construction Engineering team is ready to commence construction administration.
Design Engineering, MOT, and Stakeholder Coordination
In the original study, Lake Zurich Road was repositioned on a different alignment further away from the proposed underpass and rail crossing. For the final design, Lake Zurich Road will remain in its original location. To accommodate this, the roadway needed to be lowered to align with Route 14’s elevation in the underpass adding a Maintenance of Traffic challenge. A temporary, 4-lane run around road was designed to handle Route 14 traffic while the new railroad bridge is built. With Lake Zurich Road remaining in its current location, a secondary temporary road was added for Lake Zurich Road traffic.
The Design team provided extensive coordination with many agencies and stakeholders, including the Village, IDOT, the Barrington Library, Park District, neighboring subdivisions, and neighboring villages. Also, the project involved many subconsultants supporting Civiltech with specialty services, including the construction of a new pump station, watermain and sewer design, environmental design, and railroad plans. The railroad design includes a shoofly: a temporary track that will reroute trains during the construction of the new bridge.
Designing a New Railroad Bridge and Underpass Retaining Walls
Civiltech’s Structural Engineering team led the design of the new railroad bridge. The extreme 55-degree skew of the crossing resulted in the need for multiple details for the diaphragm and lateral bracing connections. Additionally, the impacts of the skew on the superstructure, primarily via differential deflections between adjacent girders were analyzed utilizing a 3D structural model.
The Structural team also led the design of the north retaining walls and collaborated with a subconsultant on the design of the south walls. Ground water was present at the location of the depressed road in the underpass. Therefore, walls needed to be watertight and designed to resist hydrostatic pressures, significantly increasing the loads on the wall to be resisted, and to prevent groundwater from constantly flowing into the underpass stormwater pump station. The hydrostatic pressures combined with the retained height resulted in the need for permanent ground anchors, stout sheet pile sections, and deep sheet pile embedments to limit wall deflections and prohibit the ground water seepage from traveling underneath the piling. Also, the joints in the sheet pile walls were sealed to provide watertight structures.
Relocating a Creek and Complex Permitting
Civiltech’s Water Resources team was critical to the project’s success as the project included relocating one-quarter mile of Flint Creek Tributary. In the Design phase, the creek relocation required extensive permitting, reviews, and approvals including IDNR Office of Water Resources and IL State Water Survey. By relocating the creek, the design also moved a flood plain which required a Letter of Map Revision and FEMA approval.
Our environmental subconsultant led by our new in-house Director of Nature-based Solutions designed the Tributary relocation. The tributary design approach focused on maximizing opportunities for naturalizing the stream and buffers in this constrained urban area. Design elements included reintroducing a stream meander, implementing a riffle-pool sequence, creating an emergent wetland streambank, and introducing a native vegetation buffer. These elements are intended to help improve water quality in the stream, promote erosion and sediment controls, and provide enhanced aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Other environmental design components included a tree preservation plan for compliance with Barrington’s tree ordinance. 
The Water Resources team performed detailed hydrologic and hydraulic analyses to design and relocate the waterway and prepare the new design for the environmental permits. A US Army Corps of Engineers Individual 404 permit was obtained which focused on biological plantings as well as the future Maintenance and Monitoring Plan for the waterway. In addition, an IL IEPA Water Quality Certification for water quality aspects and a Watershed Development Permit from Lake County Stormwater Management Commission were required.
Civiltech’s Water Resources team designed the stormwater drainage in the lowered roadway with the challenges of the high-water table and the creek flowing adjacent to the project. Their design involved moving the stormwater runoff from the new underpass to the new pump station.
A Collaboration of In-House Services and Subconsultants
Other in-house teams contributed to this multi-faceted project. Civiltech’s Landscape Architecture group provided drawings and specifications to replace the large number of trees being removed to accommodate the new construction. Civiltech also provided lighting design and traffic signal engineering. The project included relentless pursuit of funding, and we were ultimately successful in securing STP Shared Funding for the majority of the project costs.
The Civiltech Design Engineering team coordinated all the in-house disciplines and subconsultants work into a massive plan set of over 800 pages. The Design team also worked closely with IDOT to acquire over 40 parcels of right of way necessary to construct the project. Civiltech is grateful to our client, the Village of Barrington, for trusting us with all phases of this exciting, challenging, and impactful project.