Although CSX has not confirmed specific plans for the site, the railroad owns the property, which has been the focus of widely reported public forums, some of which have drawn opposition from nearby residents.
“There is substantial support among local, state, and regional officials for the (Crete) concept,” says CSX representative Rob Doolittle. “Locating a facility there would enhance the region’s ability to manage the growing volume of intermodal freight moving to and from the Chicago region.”
The 1,100-acre site is on the south edge of Crete, along the western perimeter of the railroad and just a half-mile from the Illinois state Route 394/state Route 1 development corridor often called the Southland Parkway. The parkway is a busy truck artery that extends south 20 miles into Will County from Interstate 80. In recent years, the county has seen explosive growth in warehousing and distribution businesses.
Historically, the Crete property has been used for farming. However, CenterPoint, an industrial development firm, purchased the site in 2007 after it was annexed by the village of Crete and rezoned as “intermodal terminal,” or IT. CenterPoint began a marketing campaign but by 2012 abandoned its plan and put the property back up for sale. A local developer later bought the land and sold it to CSX in June 2016.
The site has a strategic location, only five miles north of where state routes 394 and 1 would intersect with the proposed Interstate 394 Illiana Expressway, an east-west link between Interstate 65 near Crown Point, Ind., and Interstate 55 at Wilmington, Ill. It is also adjacent to the location of the proposed and long-embattled South Suburban Airport.
Local residents’ objections to the project have centered on plans to build a railroad overpass for Crete-Monee Road, the major east-east thoroughfare at the north end of the site. Public hearings in January drew crowds of opponents, and anti-intermodal signs have begun appearing along roadsides. But the opposition comes mostly from township residents, and the project site is entirely contained within the village of Crete.
“If CSX were to move forward with a project in Crete, we would commit to working with local officials and community leaders to provide information and address questions that nearby residents might have,” Doolittle says. “CSX strives to be a good neighbor in every project we develop, and we would approach this project in the same way.”
The railroad through Crete is the former north-south main line of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, now shared by UP and CSX south 52 miles to Woodland Junction, where UP diverges to the southwest for St. Louis and CSX to the southeast for Evansville, Nashville, and beyond.
Crete would be the fourth major regional intermodal terminal and logistics park built in the Chicago area within the last 20 years. Others include BNSF’s Logistics Park Chicago in Elwood, a southwest suburb; UP’s Global Three in Rochelle; and UP’s Global Four in Joliet.
The Crete project would be a major step for CSX and traffic on its Southeastern Corridor. It would be the first Chicago-area intermodal park tied directly to the port of Miami, Fla., and its trade with Latin America, the Caribbean, and presumably the expanded Panama Canal.
Crete also would provide CSX a leg up on its traditional rival Norfolk Southern, whose key intermodal ramps are the cramped facilities at Englewood on the city’s southeast side, and Landers Yard to the southwest.
