{"id":23618,"date":"2016-01-13T13:29:17","date_gmt":"2016-01-13T19:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=23618"},"modified":"2016-01-14T09:41:46","modified_gmt":"2016-01-14T15:41:46","slug":"roscoe-village-businesses-anxious-to-see-the-last-of-western-viaduct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/roscoe-village-businesses-anxious-to-see-the-last-of-western-viaduct\/","title":{"rendered":"Roscoe Village businesses anxious to see the last of Western Viaduct"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Siri Bulusu <\/strong><\/p>\n

Area businesses are enthusiastic about a city plan to transform the crumbling Western Ave. viaduct into a pedestrian-friendly boulevard, but wish the city would let them in on the details.<\/p>\n

The four-phase project, estimated to last between 18 and 24 months, will replace the Western Ave. viaduct with a five-point intersection between Western, Belmont and Clybourn Avenues, with wider sidewalks, pedestrian islands and landscaping, said a spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Transportation at a public forum this week.<\/p>\n

The 54-year-old viaduct is an eyesore for community residents who have long awaited a solution from the city.<\/p>\n

“I will be very happy when that bypass is gone,\u201d said Laura Davis, owner of Fixture, a boutique retail store located at 2108 W. Roscoe Street, just a few blocks from the future construction site. \u201cI feel like it\u2019s very easy for people to not come into the neighborhood because of it.”<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen the plans and it\u2019s phenomenal,\u201d said Kenneth Ludwig, owner of Kenneth Ludwig Chicago, a designer show room located blocks from the soon-to-be-demolished Western Ave. overpass.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will brighten the street and make it pedestrian friendly,\u201d Ludwig said. \u201cIn that sense, the beautification and foot-traffic will be great.”<\/p>\n

The CDOT told concerned residents at Tuesday\u2019s public forum that it plans to begin construction mid-February \u201cweather permitting\u201d but will not release a final schedule until the contractor confirms it with the city. The lack of a clear schedule means some frustrated business owners are sitting on their hands for the time being.<\/p>\n

[googlemaps https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/embed?pb=!1m0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1452709324108!6m8!1m7!1sM7z38WP1gZigb7Mwpw7hug!2m2!1d41.93945168876959!2d-87.68809152874509!3f144.44817508563767!4f8.410268789661515!5f0.7820865974627469&w=600&h=450]<\/p>\n

Jesus Carrasco and his business partner Veronica Angulo, owners of the Blue Light Tavern located one block north of the doomed viaduct, are awaiting the demolition schedule to coordinate their own business\u2019s renovations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be a lot of dirt and dust so we thought we\u2019d make some ourselves,\u201d Carrasco said. The co-owners are awaiting a schedule of the construction so they may overlap their in-house work with the reduced foot-traffic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want the neighborhood to look nicer, so we\u2019re not hidden under a bridge,\u201d Angulo said. \u201cThere will be more traffic and it will be a good time for us to add a kitchen.”<\/p>\n

Angulo said that rezoning and permit issues will take up most of their time, but they won’t really move forward with their renovation until they see specific dates from the city. Ludwig also finds himself searching for solutions to make the transition easier on his clients.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to skip certain blocks and go a different way,\u201d Ludwig said. “Maybe they\u2019ll implement a different bus route to help my clients come in. My planning depends on communication from the city.”<\/p>\n

“We all know we have to have a little sacrifice, but to have another major artery on the borders on a neighborhood chocked\u2026 that I don\u2019t comprehend,\u201d Ludwig added.<\/p>\n

Chief Bridge Engineer Luis D. Benitez of CDOT said during Tuesday\u2019s public meeting that a project this big will inevitably bring about major impact and inconveniences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing infrastructure improvements instead of not doing anything and letting the infrastructure fall apart,\u201d Benitez said. \u201cWe\u2019re doing as much outreach as possible to minimize conflicts or any misunderstanding with the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis, a few blocks away from the main construction site, is not immediately concerned about traffic on Western Ave. being condensed into a single lane and said the project may even drive customers into the neighborhood streets, past her shop.<\/p>\n

She guesses neighborhood residents will want to shop local instead of going to \u201cthe big box stores\u201d in a different area of town.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be more people coming up and down Roscoe and that could be good for us,\u201d Davis said, adding \u201cIf I were on Belmont or Western I would be very concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all kind of lingering through it. It\u2019s mostly the lack of communication,\u201d Ludwig said. \u201cThe typical M.O. of the city is to do it and beg for forgiveness later.”<\/p>\n

As they await further start-date information from CDOT, Roscoe Village business owners are resigned to rolling with the punches.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s schedule a lot of construction plans and hope they survive,\u201d Ludwig said. “Welcome to Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at the top: Artist rendering of street view after construction. (Chicago Department of Transportation)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Siri Bulusu Area businesses are enthusiastic about a city plan to transform the crumbling Western Ave. viaduct into a pedestrian-friendly boulevard, but wish the city would let them in on the details. The four-phase project, estimated to last between 18 and 24 months, will replace the Western Ave. viaduct with a five-point intersection between […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":220,"featured_media":23628,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,585],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-winter-2016"],"yoast_head":"\nRoscoe Village businesses anxious to see the last of Western Viaduct - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/roscoe-village-businesses-anxious-to-see-the-last-of-western-viaduct\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Roscoe Village businesses anxious to see the last of Western Viaduct - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Siri Bulusu Area businesses are enthusiastic about a city plan to transform the crumbling Western Ave. viaduct into a pedestrian-friendly boulevard, but wish the city would let them in on the details. The four-phase project, estimated to last between 18 and 24 months, will replace the Western Ave. viaduct with a five-point intersection between […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/roscoe-village-businesses-anxious-to-see-the-last-of-western-viaduct\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-13T19:29:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-01-14T15:41:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/MEDIAN-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"637\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"256\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"siribulusu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"siribulusu\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/roscoe-village-businesses-anxious-to-see-the-last-of-western-viaduct\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/roscoe-village-businesses-anxious-to-see-the-last-of-western-viaduct\/\",\"name\":\"Roscoe Village businesses anxious to see the last of Western Viaduct - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/roscoe-village-businesses-anxious-to-see-the-last-of-western-viaduct\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/roscoe-village-businesses-anxious-to-see-the-last-of-western-viaduct\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/MEDIAN-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-13T19:29:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-14T15:41:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/3c73eb50d56336770034d544c001c18e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/roscoe-village-businesses-anxious-to-see-the-last-of-western-viaduct\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/roscoe-village-businesses-anxious-to-see-the-last-of-western-viaduct\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/roscoe-village-businesses-anxious-to-see-the-last-of-western-viaduct\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/MEDIAN-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/MEDIAN-1.jpg\",\"width\":637,\"height\":256},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/roscoe-village-businesses-anxious-to-see-the-last-of-western-viaduct\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Roscoe Village businesses anxious to see the last of Western Viaduct\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/3c73eb50d56336770034d544c001c18e\",\"name\":\"siribulusu\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147d3987b5a45c19906c047b40fd3bad3dca3309da48ae542451b4a71bc171c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147d3987b5a45c19906c047b40fd3bad3dca3309da48ae542451b4a71bc171c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"siribulusu\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/siribulusu\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Roscoe Village businesses anxious to see the last of Western Viaduct - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/roscoe-village-businesses-anxious-to-see-the-last-of-western-viaduct\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Roscoe Village businesses anxious to see the last of Western Viaduct - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Siri Bulusu Area businesses are enthusiastic about a city plan to transform the crumbling Western Ave. viaduct into a pedestrian-friendly boulevard, but wish the city would let them in on the details. The four-phase project, estimated to last between 18 and 24 months, will replace the Western Ave. viaduct with a five-point intersection between […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/roscoe-village-businesses-anxious-to-see-the-last-of-western-viaduct\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2016-01-13T19:29:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-01-14T15:41:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":637,"height":256,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/MEDIAN-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"siribulusu","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"siribulusu","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/roscoe-village-businesses-anxious-to-see-the-last-of-western-viaduct\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/roscoe-village-businesses-anxious-to-see-the-last-of-western-viaduct\/","name":"Roscoe Village businesses anxious to see the last of Western Viaduct - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/roscoe-village-businesses-anxious-to-see-the-last-of-western-viaduct\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/roscoe-village-businesses-anxious-to-see-the-last-of-western-viaduct\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/MEDIAN-1.jpg","datePublished":"2016-01-13T19:29:17+00:00","dateModified":"2016-01-14T15:41:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/3c73eb50d56336770034d544c001c18e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/roscoe-village-businesses-anxious-to-see-the-last-of-western-viaduct\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/roscoe-village-businesses-anxious-to-see-the-last-of-western-viaduct\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/roscoe-village-businesses-anxious-to-see-the-last-of-western-viaduct\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/MEDIAN-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/MEDIAN-1.jpg","width":637,"height":256},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/roscoe-village-businesses-anxious-to-see-the-last-of-western-viaduct\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Roscoe Village businesses anxious to see the last of Western Viaduct"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/3c73eb50d56336770034d544c001c18e","name":"siribulusu","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147d3987b5a45c19906c047b40fd3bad3dca3309da48ae542451b4a71bc171c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147d3987b5a45c19906c047b40fd3bad3dca3309da48ae542451b4a71bc171c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"siribulusu"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/siribulusu\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/220"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}