Channahon renews contract with traffic consultant aiding in Canadian Rail proposal

The village of Channahon will renew its contract with Ann Schneider and Associates for the second time after hiring the firm in 2023 to assist in providing guidance while Canadian National plans its transportation hub west of McClindon Road.

Village Administrator Thomas Durkin said the contract renewal is for six months, and the $3,000 cost is covered by the professional fee agreement agreed to in August 2023. This means that Canadian National, as the developer of the transportation hub, will be forwarded the bill.

“Ann’s going to be preparing a proposal for the group to consider in terms of hiring her on as a consultant for that grant oversight as we continue through that,” Durkin said at the Village Board’s Oct. 7 meeting. “Ann helped develop the [request for proposal] that’s probably going to go out next week because comments are due back from all the partners by the end of this week. We’ll be able to go through the process of selecting a consultant who will carry out that work. She did very similar [or] exactly the same work for the Grundy Moves Transportation Plan.”

Durkin said the plan is to have Schneider and Associates work on the project that will be paid for by the $400,000 planning and research grant Channahon applied for in June along with 10 other partners.

Channahon met with officials from the village of Minooka, city of Morris and Grundy County; representatives of the Illinois Department of Transportation; office staffs of state Reps. Jed Davis and Jason Bunting and state Sen. Tom Bennett; members of the Grundy Economic Development Council; Ann Schneider Consulting; and TranSystems on May 15. There, the parties discussed entrance consolidation and intersection improvements along Route 6.

The village of Channahon posts updates on this project and many others on its website at channahon.org/382/New-Development-Projects-Businesses.