Village Board Nixes Route 53 Pedestrian Bridge, for Now

The village won't be building a pedestrian bridge over Route 53, at least for now. 

Two large-scale capital projects took up much of the discussion during a board workshop Feb. 9. A $17 million project to build a new Public Works building and expand the current Woodridge Police Department received village board support. The pedestrian bridge did not. 

The $1.75 million bridge project has been a part of the village's capital project wishlist for years but had been pushed back due to budget restraints. The bridge would connect with existing trails for bikers and runners and provide a walking gateway into Seven Bridges. 

Village staff presented two versions of a plan for a pedestrian bridge across Route 53, as well as a plan to improve pedestrian safety across Route 53 without a bridge. 

The village board and Mayor William F. Murphy rejected each of the plans, at least for now. 

The total cost of the pedestrian bridge project is $5.8 million, including contingency funding. The village needs an additional $2 million to complete the pedestrian bridge projects as originally designed. If village trustees had given the bridge the go-ahead, construction could have begun in summer 2013.

Village staff also presented two alternative options:

• An altered bridge design that would reduce costs to $3.5 million to $4 million
• Eliminating the bridge and making path and pedestrian crossing enhancements and gate features on Route 53, which would cost $1.2 million to $1.4 million.

Murphy expressed his opposition to the project first; each village board member did so after. 

"When I heard the word 'bridge' over Route 53, I wasn't sure how to work it out," Murphy said. "Once I saw the design of the bridge...the bridge I wasn't necessarily enamored with was really an attractive gateway to the community." 

But, he said, "$1.75 million is just something we can't go forward with. We'd have to expend some monies. I'm not comfortable with that." 

"If we're going to spend money we should do so for a good purpose, like driving economic activity," Trustee David Pittinger said. 

If the village decided to pursue the pedestrian bridge in the future, it could again pursue grant funding to offset the cost of the project. 

The village board discussed its 5-year capital improvement plan last week. You can see a full list of proposed projects on the list here.