Transportation: Freight and Rail

Improving the region’s freight system

Northeastern Illinois is a major freight hub. A quarter of all rail freight in the U.S. originates, terminates, or passes through our region. But this freight activity brings pollution, safety concerns, and conflicts with passenger trains and motor vehicles. Many of these burdens disproportionately affect people with low-income and communities of color. Thoughtful planning grounded in current data can support the freight system and the movement of goods while reducing the burdens of pollution, injuries, and delays.

The 2026 Regional Transportation Plan calls for our region to improve the efficiency and reliability of the regional freight network through strategies that mitigate congestion, improve safety, and reduce pollution. The agency also completed a freight snapshot and developed the Regional strategic freight direction, which provides direction for CMAP and key partners in its freight planning work.

CMAP is currently working on a freight-system assessment. Ongoing CMAP activities in the current regional strategic freight direction include:

• Truck routing studies and local truck regulation support, in Will County, south Cook County, and the O’Hare area
• Highway-rail grade crossing studies in Joliet and in Berwyn
• Grade-crossing study prioritization
• Support funding for the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) Program, a partnership among public and private rail stakeholders
• Environmental study and analysis of the freight system in the context of ongoing climate action plans and clean-air-to-communities studies

Grade crossing prioritization

Northeastern Illinois has nearly 3,200 places where railroads cross highways. About half of these are “separated,” with the railroad over or under the roadway. But more than 1,600 highway-rail crossings are “at grade,” or level. At many of these crossings, there are often slow-moving or even stopped trains that cause travel issues for motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians. CMAP estimated that in 2018, motorists were delayed 44,300 hours each weekday at highway-rail grade crossings. View the top dozen at-grade crossings with the greatest delays below or the full listing of at-grade railroad crossings.

CMAP collaborated with regional partners to identify 47 priority grade crossings, based on vehicle delays, crash risks, truck volumes, bus routes, and pedestrian safety impacted by the crossing. Since its publication, numerous studies have been initiated for several at-grade crossings. An update to the priority list is planned for 2025, with updated grade crossing delays data using the Federal Railroad Administration’s model for highway-rail grade-crossing safety.  

Technical assistance

CMAP awards federal funding to projects that improve air quality and roadway congestion through the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program. The regional Surface Transportation Program Shared Fund also awards federal funding to advance projects that address high or critical safety issues with countermeasures appropriate for the crash type(s) in the project corridor/area.

Freight and rail projects across northeastern Illinois are helping the region strengthen its position as North America’s freight hub while improving safety, reliability, and quality of life. The following partner-led projects show how the 2026 Regional Transportation Plan’s freight priorities are moving from long-range planning into implementation.

• The 75th Street Corridor Improvement Project is the largest project in the CREATE Program and will reduce conflicts among freight trains, passenger trains, and roadway users on Chicago’s South Side. The project addresses one of the region’s most complex rail chokepoints while supporting more reliable freight movement and passenger rail service.
• A project to separate Archer Avenue from Belt Railway Company tracks will improve safety and reduce delays for drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, buses, emergency responders, and freight traffic. It reflects the region’s emphasis on prioritizing grade crossings where rail activity creates significant community impacts.
• The Illinois Department of Transportation’s reconstruction of I-80 from Minooka to New Lenox will modernize a critical truck freight corridor serving one of the region’s most important logistics areas. It will improve safety, preserve infrastructure, and address highway bottlenecks that affect both goods movement and everyday travel.
• The Illinois Tollway’s I-490/Illinois Route 390 Interchange will improve access on the west side of O’Hare, strengthening connections among highways, rail lines, airport facilities, and nearby employment centers. It will improve freight connections to major air cargo facilities and other regional freight assets.
• Recent investments at the Port of Chicago will help modernize aging maritime infrastructure, improve safety, and support cleaner port operations. It will strengthen multimodal freight connections while reducing the environmental burdens that freight activity can place on nearby communities.