by:  Diane Benjamin

Mayor Renner used to be really unhappy with The Grove subdivision east of Towanda-Barnes on Ireland Grove Road.  He told me the City got stuck paying a lot of the bills for roads and sewers the developer should have contributed to – thanks to Tom Hamilton.

Evidently he got over it because at Monday’s work session the Council will be considering spending more.  I didn’t realize that Kickapoo Creek Road, which runs right through the middle of the first section built, will be the new Hershey Road or Towanda  Avenue:  http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=7182

Were the residents told that before they built or bought a house in the country?

Since the street is going to be so busy, the City wants to build an underpass for walkers and bikers.  Details can be seen at the link above.

But there is still more.  Evidently there is already an underpass northwest of Benjamin School so kids can walk and ride to school.  But that’s not good enough.  They also want an overpass!

The link above contains two drawings of what an overpass might look like:

I wonder how the bikes get up the stairs, but I digress.  I also wonder why the Illinois Institute of Technology did the drawings.  More consultants?

The overpass will be at the corner of Ireland Grove Road and Black Oak Lane.  It’s a “T” road.  Black Oak Lane has a stop sign.  The kids don’t have to cross Ireland Grove Road to get to Benjamin School.

I thought subdivisions and strip malls were dead Tari!  The Grove is a spread-out subdivision.  The last time it was discussed at Council a bike path to connect the first addition to Benjamin School was proposed.  How did the discussion get to 20,000 cars a day with an underpass and an overpass too?

What do you know that evidently nobody else does?

.

.

.