Riverside officials have passed a resolution opposing possible grade separations along Harlem Avenue as a solution to traffic related to the BNSF railroad crossing. Any such fix would see access to both East Burlington Street and East Quincy Street closed.
On Thursday, Oct. 1, village trustees passed the resolution, which called the potential implementation in the future of an overpass or underpass on Harlem Avenue “an unacceptable burden” on Riverside and its businesses should the connections with both Burlington and Quincy, two of the village’s most important routes between its central business district and the busy thoroughfare of Harlem, be blocked off.
While Village Manager Jessica Frances previously told the Landmark that major construction on Harlem Avenue would be at least 10 years away, the overpass and underpass concepts are two potential solutions to improve traffic on Harlem Avenue as the result of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s Berwyn-Riverside railroad grade crossing study.
The study, led by senior planner Thomas Murtha, began in 2019. In his most recent update on the project, presented to Riverside officials on Sept. 17, Murtha said the project’s goal is to improve “travel time reliability, safety and mobility” for anyone moving through the BNSF corridor, from drivers and first responders to cyclists and pedestrians.
At that Sept. 17 meeting, Village President Doug Pollock voiced the concerns that the village board has now ratified with the passage of the resolution.
“Almost all the options would include closing access [from Harlem] to Burlington and Quincy, which would have, in my opinion, a tremendous negative economic impact on the village,” Pollock said then.
Later, in an interview with the Landmark, Pollock said he would support solutions that implement improved signage and light timing to improve locomotion without affecting the “fundamental roadway design” and preventing access to Riverside’s downtown as well some of its businesses along Harlem Avenue that he said could potentially “no longer exist” if an overpass or underpass were constructed.
On Oct. 1, before the village board voted to pass the resolution, Murtha said he and others working on the project were “refining our alternatives so as to address the concerns of what we heard in this resolution.”
“We’ve looked at the public comments, had the public meeting and had concerns raised there. We’re working with the consultants to address these,” Murtha said.
