Oak Park Looking Into Possible Eisenhower Expressway Deck
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Oak Park might be gaining some new open space for its residents in the coming few years, but the question is: At what cost?
Village Manager Cara Pavlicek and the Village Board talked Monday night about the possibility of having a three-acre bridge deck built over the Eisenhower Expressway when IDOT reconstructs the roadway in the next few years.
Pavlicek said, ever since the Eisenhower Expressway was built, splitting the village in two, there has always been a desire re-connect the two sides of the village in some way.
That has led to discussions about possibly building a bridge deck over the expressway near East Avenue but it would cost about $67 million for the deck alone, without adding any buildings or landscaping.
"Let's say you wanted to put, for example, a grass park, a track on top of that. That's additional cost." Pavlicek said.
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Before deciding whether to push for the bridge deck, along with a letter of intent to the Illinois Department of Transportation before the end of the year, Pavlicek said the Village Board wants options investigated, especially ways to pay for the project.
"I think that there are great benefits to, in an urban community like Oak Park, being able to create new land; but we are also very aware of what a high cost this is on a per-square-foot basis," she said.
The Oak Park Park District and Oak Park-River Forest High School also have been included in discussions.
