The plan to rebuild the pedestrian bridge over the Ike at Home Avenue took a major step ahead Sept. 1 when Oak Park’s village board chose one of three architectural designs and approved the broad financial obligations the project will require.
In choosing Concept C, the board opted in a 6-1 vote for the design deemed the most architecturally notable with a goal of building a bridge that would be seen by the 200,000 vehicles on the Eisenhower Expressway each day as a “gateway to the village.”
The architect described the bridge design as “simple and elegant” with its high arches and cable structure. The design also includes illumination of the arches, the platform and the underside of the bridge.
“Rarely do we get to make a forever statement with a modest cost,” Village President Vicki Scaman said. “It is an investment.”
Scaman said the expanded and more accessible pedestrian and bicycle bridge will allow for a greater connection between Oak Parkers to the north and the south of the I290 highway.
She said Oak Park is known for its art, architecture, net zero buildings and Percy Julian — “And now you can say, immediately, ‘And that bridge.’”
The construction timeline of the new bridge is “a little up in the air” but will not take place until at least 2030, said Bill McKenna, Oak Park’s village engineer, in an interview with Wednesday Journal. Still ahead are further discussions with the Illinois Department of Transportation on funding and other logistical issues, he said.
The full cost of the new bridge will be just more than $15 million. In discussions with the Illinois Department of Transportation dating back to 2016, the state government agency said at that time it would pay $6 million to build a standard-issue pedestrian bridge. Oak Park and its consultants are counting on IDOT agreeing now to spend somewhere in the range of $8 million to $10 million to build the new bridge.
That will leave a considerable funding gap that the village government will now seek to fill with additional grants before any final construction is approved.
McKenna said the village will “aggressively pursue” new funding sources.
In approving the costliest of the three bridge designs, trustees said the cost differential among the options was about $600,000.
The public was invited to evaluate the three bridge options in July and expressed a slight preference for Concept C. The village’s plan commission also reviewed the three designs and strongly preferred the third option. Mike Sturino, chair of the commission, told the board that one commissioner summed up the feelings of the group when she said that Concept C “made her happy.” He said the new bridge would be a “unique landmark.”
The new bridge would be built at a slightly different angle and stretch some 300 feet across the Eisenhower ditch. It will have a platform that is 14 feet wide, five feet wider than the 1950s structure it will replace. The added width is expected to allow two bikes and a pedestrian to comfortably pass each other.
The new design also addresses the decided lack of accessibility on either end of the current bridge, which directly abuts both Harrison and Garfield streets. There will be ramps and steps on each end of the bridge. A winding bicycle ramp will be featured on both ends. That will require the acquisition of some additional land on both Harrison and Garfield. On the south end, the necessary land is currently in private hands, McKenna said.
“It is definitely exciting as an engineer” to be involved in the bridge project, he added.
McKenna said the money the village has spent so far for engineering and architectural work on the Home Avenue project is coming out of a series of three federal grants the village received a decade ago during its “Cap the Ike” discussions with the state.
Is the Ridgeland Avenue bridge next?
In anticipation of eventually receiving federal funding for the “down to the dirt” rebuilding of the almost 70-year-old Eisenhower Expressway, Bill McKenna, Oak Park’s village engineer, said IDOT is gradually making plans to replace bridges over the highway, including in Oak Park.
Engineers for IDOT are “actively working” on designs for a new bridge at Ridgeland Avenue, he said. Replacing that bridge could happen as soon as 2028, he said.
IDOT continues to have discussions with the CTA about its plans for the Blue Line and its stations in Oak Park. That impacts planning for the bridges at Austin, Lombard, East, Oak Park Avenue and Harlem. There are no rail connections to the Ridgeland Avenue bridge.
