Mary Hansen
The State Journal-Register
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Rail improvements
The city wants to move ahead with rail-improvement work between Princeton Street and Stanford Avenue, using money originally set aside for underpasses at Jefferson and Madison streets, city engineer Nate Bottom told the council. Work on the downtown underpasses has been delayed due to the ongoing federal process to determine what to do with the 1908 Race Riot archeological site found at the Carpenter Street underpass, Bottom explained.
The city would use $41.6 million in state funds and $2.5 million from city coffers for improvements to rail crossings in the section south of downtown before moving ahead with the two downtown overpasses.
Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin called the change “a gamble.”
“We’re taking a gamble here that we won’t complete the underpasses at Madison and Jefferson, even though we have the money to do it,” McMenamin said. “And we’re hoping to get more money later to do those underpasses.”
The council would have to approve changes to the city’s agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation in order to move the money.
Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 