Forgotten Lands, Places and Transit

It's been a few years since anyone has thought about extending Illinois Route 53 north of Lake Cook Road in earnest, and the project is all but dead . Facing an incredible cost, negative environmental impact, questionable need, and public opposition, I think it's ultimately for the best that road has not, and does not, get built. That is not to say that I do not support significant improvements in Lake County's roads, but I think this was the wrong solution to the issue. The Illinois Route 53/120 Project in Lake County, Illinois wass a proposed highway expansion project aimed at improving the existing Route 53 and Route 120 highways in the county, both of which are two lane roads today. Especially in Route 120's case, it is not designed to handle the traffic volume that occurs on it each day. The project has been in the planning stages for several years and its purpose is to address growing traffic congestion, safety issues, and improve access to economic opportunities ...

In the early 1950's, at the height of new discoveries in nuclear energy, Argonne National Laboratory had outgrown its original campus at the University of Chicago , as well as the forest where it had conducted other experiments during the late 1940's, where currently the world's first nuclear reactor remains buried today . The site chosen would be on 3,500 acres in unincorporated Downers Grove Township in DuPage County, IL. What was once farmland would be converted into space to develop energy, weapons, and other Cold War inventions designed to keep the United States as the premier superpower in all things technology. However, two of those acres held cemetery land owned by a nearby church, St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Lemont, IL. The decision was made to keep the cemetery in its original location, as opposed to relocating it to accommodate the laboratory. As such, it is impossible to travel to this cemetery by vehicle, but you can walk along the former Bluff R...

If you ever find yourself for a walk at the Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve in southern DuPage County and listen closely, you can often hear the sounds of trains rumbling by. This isn't too surprising, since the very busy BNSF Chillicothe Subdivision lies just to the south.  Additionally, a spur line from the Chillicothe goes through the western park of the Preserve, serving the Argonne Industrial District . Almost always, with a caboose in tow. (FRRandP photo, 2014) But, upon further inspection, if you look closely at the trail in the southern part of the Preserve, you may notice that there are railroad tracks much closer than you might think. As in, right beneath your feet. No need to worry, however, about a train barreling down these tracks. These tracks, which spurred from the Chillicothe Subdivision (at the time owned by the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway), were constructed in the 1950's, when Argonne National Laboratory was moved to its current ca...