A Narrower Hillgrove In Western Springs?

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL – Western Springs wants to narrow Hillgrove Avenue downtown as part of a "streetscape" project, officials said this week.

At a Village Board meeting, trustees agreed to seek a state grant for the $1 million project. It would cover one block of Hillgrove, from Wolf Road to Lawn Avenue.

The project would include new curbs and pavement, tree grates, benches, seat walls, bike racks, a pergola, and water features.

The price tag is estimated at $1 million, with the village's portion expected to be about $470,000.

From public comments, village officials found residents wanted traffic slowed down on Hillgrove.

The street is now nearly 14 feet wide downtown, but the village is proposing to reduce it to 11 feet. That would serve to "calm" traffic, officials said.

At the meeting, Jodi Mariano, a landscape architect with Teska Associates, said Hillgrove was "pretty wide" for a two-lane street.

"We hear a lot of comments, 'Hey, can we calm traffic? Can we make it more pedestrian-friendly?'" Mariano said. "Hillgrove Avenue is wider than it needs to be."

With the changes, the village could then increase the sidewalk's width to 16.5 feet, from 14 feet, she said.

That would help with outdoor dining for restaurants or offices and other businesses that want to put out seating, Mariano said.

"These are things that provide more activity and more bodies walking around the street," she said. "People love to see people in downtown, so these are places for people to gather."

The deadline to apply for the state grant is the end of September.

Officials said the village's part could be paid for with money from the neighborhood's tax increment financing district. That income is generated from the growth in property taxes in the district.