MACON COUNTY, Ill. (WAND) – The sound of sump pumps fills the air of a rural Macon County road. A once quiet street has become a concern for those who live on it, and it is all because of flooding.
"It has been flooded so much it is actually covering that corner where you can't get around that corner to get through,” Mary Pritchett, who lives on Sand Creek Road near the Surf Club said. "We get a lot of flooding there."
The issue has been going on since 2017. Pritchett said each time it rains, the road floods and she does not feel the problem to fix the problem is not being taken seriously.
"No one is really doing anything,” she said. “I feel sorry for my neighbors that live down on that corner."
Gary Hutchens, the South Wheatland County Highway Commissioner, told WAND News he has been fighting to get it fixed for years. His opponent is Canadian National Railroad.
For Hutchens, the problem began back in 2017. He said the railroad came in to do some work on a trestle. In a picture, Hutchens said from the time the work was done, heavy equipment could be seen sitting in a dirt area off of Sand Creek Road.
Hutchens believes the weight of the heavy equipment connected to a steel casing to collapse, allowing Sand Creek Road to begin to flood.
"It [the pipe} goes under the railroad and that is the only way that the water can escape,” Hutchens said.
The Highway Commissioner said at first, the flooding was not too bad, but fast forward to July of 2019 and Hutchens said the flooding became so bad that even three quarters of an inch of rain cause the road to become impassible.
"There a few property owners that are really getting excited at this point,” he said. “They have water in their crawl spaces, they have water in their garages. I cannot tell you how many days my road has been submerged,
The submerged road is a major concern for those who live on it, and for the highway commissioner.
"If an ambulance needed to go south of the tracks, they would really have to go around to get to that area,” Pritchett said.
Going around because of flood waters could waste valuable minutes in an emergency. WAND News drove the detour a first responder may have to take.
After turning around because of water over the road, responders would have to head north to Grove Road, head east and then go south onto Turpin before being able to turn west onto Sand Creek Road. The entire time it took us to drive the detour was roughly seven minutes.
The highway commissioner tried to fix the problem last July. Hutchens said he dug a hole, took out the old pipe and was within three hours of replacing it when Canadian National Railroad came by.
"He called the troops in, called the county sheriff out there and they filled the hole in,” Hutchens said.
The work Hutchens was doing was being done on railroad property, and he believes the railroad knew it.
"When they claimed that it is their right of way, their property, it is their problem."
The railroad has agreed to let Hutchens fix the problem, but he told WAND News they will only allow it to be done on their terms, and require him to file 37 pages worth of guidance and at a cost of $75,000 to $80,000.
"I cannot justify spending tax dollars for the township on a repair that the railroad is responsible for,” the commissioner said.
Under Illinois state law, Hutchens believes Canadian National is in violation of drainage laws. Section 70 of Illinois Complied Statues lays them out. Part of the law states that landowners, in this cause the railroad according to Hutchens, shall now "not willfully and intentionally interfere with any ditches or natural drains which cross his land in such manner that such ditches or natural drains shall fill or become obstructed with any matter which shall materially impede or interfere with the flow of water."
"They are obstructing it, so they are in violation of Illinois drainage laws,” Hutchens said
Hutchens has taken his fight to the courts. On Tuesday, a judge ruled against the Highway Commissions request for a temporary restraining order against the railroad which would have allowed Hutchens to do the needed work, but the judge did tell Canadian National that they need to fix the problem in a timely manner.
WAND News reached out to the railroad for comment. They would not provide a response to our written questions but did say “due to pending legal action, CN would decline to comment at this time.”
According to state law, the railroad could be fined for each day it has prevented the highway commission from not doing the work needed to fix the pipe. Also, by not fixing the pipe itself, the railroad could be fined.
