Minooka Sues Canadian National, Wisconsin Central Railroads

MINOOKA — The Village of Minooka announced on Monday morning that it has retained the law firms of Spesia & Taylor and Roetzel & Andress to pursue a declaratory judgment claim against Wisconsin Central LTD and Canadian National Railroad.

According to Minooka's press release, the Village adopted an ordinance restricting heavy truck traffic on McLindon Road for the protection of the public health, safety, welfare, and quality of life of its residents. Wisconsin Central LTD and Canadian National Railroad have challenged the Village’s authority to pass the ordinance to protect its residents.

The lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

According to the lawsuit filing:

This action for declaratory relief arises from a substantial controversy between Minooka and Defendants regarding Minooka’s exercise of its statutory and traditional authority to enact and enforce weight limitations on its roads.

Defendants are planning on constructing an intermodal facility and a logistics park on approximately 900 acres of land, located within the Village of Channahon in Grundy County, Illinois, but which is also located – in part - within the Minooka unincorporated planning area.

The project is still only in its planning stages, and no ground has yet been broken for construction. As a result, CN currently has maximum flexibility in designing the Project to create a traffic plan that will meet its needs and have minimal safety impact on Minooka and the other surrounding communities.

Minooka has, in good faith, worked with CN to develop a traffic plan that would meet CN’s needs but not substantially impact the safety and quality of life of Minooka’s residents.

Specifically, Minooka proposed that the CN facility would have access on Route 6 for trucks weighing up to 80,000 pounds (“Heavy Trucks”) and an access point for passenger vehicles only on McLindon Road. Preventing Heavy Truck traffic from being dumped onto McLindon Road is necessary to protect the safety, health, and welfare of Minooka’s residents.

CN rejected Minooka’s proposal and instead is demanding that Minooka accede to a traffic plan that would have two access points, one located on McLindon Road and the other on Route 6, that would both be used by Heavy Trucks and passenger vehicles.

Under CN’s proposal, the average daily traffic of Heavy Trucks and passenger vehicles on McLindon Road would increase exponentially. Minooka did not contemplate the substantial additional truck and passenger vehicle traffic that will be generated by the CN Project.

In March and April 2024, Minooka amended its Village Code to place new vehicle weight limitations on certain of its roads, including McLindon Road, in accord with its duty to act for the public health, safety, and welfare of its residents.

In response, CN is attempting to strong-arm Minooka by threatening to invoke federal preemption under the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act unless Minooka agrees to repeal the weight limitations and accede to CN’s unsafe traffic proposal.

Contrary to CN’s threats, Minooka’s actions are not preempted, but instead are a permissible use of Minooka’s traditional and statutory police powers to regulate weight limits on a roadway for the public health, safety, and welfare.