Hinsdale Won't Cover Western Springs Costs: Leader

HINSDALE, IL — Hinsdale and Western Springs remain at odds over the design of the proposed 47th Street pedestrian bridge linking the towns.

Western Springs has chosen a chain-link fence for the pedestrian bridge, which officials said would be cheaper to maintain long-term. However, Hinsdale officials prefer a picket-style fence.

At the Hinsdale Village Board's meeting Monday, Illinois Tollway official Nicole Nutter said she had received an indication from the village staff that Hinsdale may want to pick up at least some of Western Springs' costs for maintaining the picket-style fence.

However, Village President Tom Cauley disagreed with such an idea: "We're not offering to pay anything more than half."

During the discussion, Cauley later made a request to Nutter that indicated a lack of communication between top Hinsdale and Western Springs officials.

"I think you should tell the Western Springs president to give me a call if they want to know what our thought process is," Cauley said. "I would be happy to talk with her about it."

Western Springs trustees have expressed concern with the $250,000 it would cost in 20 to 25 years to repaint the bridge if a black finish were used, plus $60,000 with a picket-style fence.

But maintenance for the entire bridge has been taken off the table because the tollway is going with a weatherized steel finish at Western Springs' request. At issue now is whether to go with a chain-link or picket-style fence, which would require the $60,000 repainting in a couple of decades, Nutter said.

If the towns disagree on a higher cost option, the tollway would go with the cheaper alternative because it was unable to force more costs on a village, Nutter told Western Springs officials in September.

Nutter said she planned to attend the Monday meeting of the Western Springs Village Board to gauge its views again on the picket-style fence.

Earlier this month, Western Springs Village President Alice Gallagher told Patch that the village was still in discussions with the Illinois Tollway on the bridge. She said at the time it was premature to discuss anything with Hinsdale.

"There is a perception we are rival towns," Gallagher said. "We can get along and find some kind of solution that will be acceptable to both sides."

Nutter told Hinsdale officials she would like to get an answer by Thanksgiving because of the timeline for the bridge project next year.