Interrogatories from loyal readers ...

Q-On my way into work last Wednesday as my Lake Street CTA train approached downtown, I couldn't help but notice that Metra tracks on the ground down below appeared to be aflame. There were small fires in a number of spots, but no one seemed to be alarmed and trains were traveling over the hot spots as if nothing were wrong.

Was I hallucinating, or what?

B.B., Oak Park

A-That was no mirage.

It was snowing last Wednesday morning, and when there's precipitation along with cold, rail switches have a nasty habit of freezing. This can disrupt a railroad's operations in a major way.

At newer installations, Metra has electric heaters that are turned on when the weather gets bad, but there are still switches on the system where gas heaters-with visible flames-are used.

Officials say the gas models operate well as long as engineers don't exceed 30 mph as they pass by. At greater speeds, trains can blow out the flame.

Q-I'm happy that the Kennedy Expressway's reversible lanes have been reopened after their recent reconstruction, but when you're inbound on the Edens headed for the reversibles, why are you now herded into a single lane? Having to line up sometimes backs traffic all the way to Peterson.

People are firing down the far right lane on the Edens and then wheeling madly across to the left lane at the hint of an opening to cut into line.

R.S., Deerfield

A-IDOT officials say the single-lane access into the reversibles is designed to cut confusion, reduce speed, prevent accidents and better control Edens traffic at what temporarily is a tight merge at the reversibles.

You may not agree with this strategy, but you won't have to put up with it for too much longer. That's because things will get better after the second phase of the Kennedy reconstruction project begins in March. The Edens-reversible merge point will be moved north of where it now is, and two Edens lanes will flow directly into these express lanes.

Q-The Metra station on the Rock Island line at 119th Street is open during the early morning but is locked up around 10 a.m. That's not a problem in the summer, but since I normally catch either the 11:03 a.m. or 12:03 p.m. heading downtown, I freeze my butt waiting for the train in the winter.

Why can't they leave the place open?

W.H., Chicago

A-That station doesn't have a ticket agent, and it's closed after rush hour when there aren't many people around to prevent vandalism, said Metra spokesman Chris Knapton.

But since the worst time for vandalism is after school gets out in the afternoon, and since Metra doesn't want any of its customers to suffer frostbitten hindquarters, he said the agency will look into keeping the building at 119th Street open longer.

Q-Exactly how much do CTA buses weigh? I live on Dodge Avenue in Evanston and when a bus rumbles by my place, the house rattles and shakes. Tractor trailers don't raise the ruckus the CTA does.

P.P., Evanston

A-Your typical, garden-variety CTA bus tips the scales at about 24,000 pounds. That's roughly twice the weight of the male African elephant, the largest land animal on Earth.

But things could be worse. Think what it would be like if the CTA operated its big articulated buses down your street. They weigh about 36,000 pounds.

Q-Maybe you can clear something up for me. I've read that the experimental program banning daytime weekday parking downtown has a southern boundary of Congress Parkway. But I got a ticket last June for parking my car in the 500 block of Federal Street. That is south of Congress. There wasn't a single no-parking sign in sight. What's going on?

L.B., Chicago

A-Bad luck, that's for sure.

When you got your ticket, there was a cockeyed ordinance on the books that made parking illegal unless it was specifically permitted-for example, if there was a parking meter in place-in a downtown zone that was bigger than the experimental parking ban area you refer to.

That no-parking zone extended to Harrison Street, which is 600 south, which means that you were just inside its borders.

The screwy ordinance was repealed on July 8, the month after you got the ticket and too late to do you any good.

Getting back to the experimental no-parking plan: It is expiring now, and city officials recently proposed a permanent plan. Parking would be forbidden from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays on "core" streets including Adams, Jackson, Madison, Washington, Clark, Dearborn and LaSalle Street south of Washington.

But parking, with meters, would be permitted on less "traffic sensitive" streets including Lake, Wabash, Wells, Canal, Franklin and small segments of Monroe, Randolph and Van Buren.

Gets a little confusing, doesn't it?

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Getting Around the North Suburbs:

Wilmette officials expect restoration to be completed this spring on all of the streets torn up for the west side sewer project.

Work has continued through the winter on sections of Kenilworth Avenue and Locust, Hunter and Hibbard Roads, where new sanitary sewers were installed to increase capacity of the sewer system serving the area of Wilmette west of Ridge Road.

Attention now turns to the east side, and village manager Heidi Voorhees said that she hopes to get word by spring from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency on a loan application to upgrade the combined sewer system serving that part of town.

If approved, work can begin by this summer, Voorhees said.

Plans are to install a new sewer main under Greenleaf Avenue between the the Chicago & North Western tracks and the North Shore Channel.

The sewer would be tied in to the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District's Deep Tunnel and act as a holding tank for excess storm water during heavy rains. Small berms would also be built on various streets to allow ponding of storm water.

The inconvenience on the streets is necessary to increase storm water capacity in the village's sewer system and reduce serious basement flooding.

"Major insurance companies are no longer writing policies here for basement flooding," Voorhees said.

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Getting Around the Northwest Suburbs:

Construction that would take Lake Cook Road over Milwaukee Avenue to alleviate traffic congestion at the Wheeling intersection is scheduled to begin this spring.