{UAH} IN ALL BLACK KIDS THAT DIED IN CHICAGO UNDER OBAMA, HE NOW WANTS MONEY FROM THEIR MOTHERS HUH !!!!!

Obama center's roadwork costs will total $175 million, city says

Backers of the Obama Presidential Center released new renderings Jan. 9, 2018, to reflect the recent revisions.

Blair Kamin and Mary WisniewskiChicago Tribune

Proposed roadwork and underpass construction for the planned Obama Presidential Center will cost about $175 million, Chicago officials said Friday. It’s the first time the city has given an estimate of the public cost of the privately funded center.

The proposed changes include widening portions of South Lake Shore Drive and Stony Island Avenue to accommodate a key feature of the center, the closing of a portion of Cornell Drive. A report prepared for city and state transportation officials said Cornell would need to be closed by the end of 2019 for the center to open as planned in 2021.

The plan also calls for four to five new underpasses, including one at 67th Street and Lake Shore Drive. The number of underpasses is uncertain because the city is still considering whether to put in one or two underpasses at Hayes Drive and Cornell.

Officials did not specify how they would fund roadwork, saying that they are pursuing “all potential options,” including funding from the state of Illinois.

“These proposed investments are intended to make the (center) and surrounding Jackson Park a world-class destination on par with Chicago’s Museum Campus,” the city’s Department of Transportation said in providing the figures in response to questions from the Tribune.

A separate statement said that a traffic study “found that with these roadway changes and mitigations looked at as a whole, travel times for drivers in and around the park will remain relatively unchanged.”

The estimate was released in advance of a public meeting Tuesday at McCormick Place, where the Obama Foundation, the nonprofit charged with building the center, will discuss its latest plans.

In January, the foundation submitted documents to the Chicago Plan Commission, requesting a zoning change that would allow it to build its 19-acre complex in historic Jackson Park.

The Plan Commission is expected to consider the proposal this spring. Foundation officials have said they want to break ground before the end of this year so the center can open in 2021. The center’s projected cost of construction is more than $300 million, with its overall cost estimated at $500 million.

According to CDOT spokesman Michael Claffey, presidential libraries often receive state funding for surrounding infrastructure work. He noted that the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield received $100 million in state funding.

Margaret Schmid, co-president of the community group Jackson Park Watch, questioned the city’s $175 million estimate, saying the potential cost of the additional pedestrian underpasses would likely boost the total beyond that. She said the project would have been cheaper if it was built in Washington Park, another site that had been considered.

Schmid also questioned the city’s proposal that includes a so-called “road diet” for Cornell between 57th and 59th streets, which would reduce the street to one lane in each direction by adding on-street parking.

“It would cause massive traffic jams,” Schmid said.

According to the transportation report, an analysis of traffic volumes was done and indicates there would be no “significant traffic impacts” as a result of the project. The city predicts that most Cornell traffic would be diverted to Lake Shore Drive, with the rest going to Stony Island and other routes.

Besides the closing of Cornell between the North Midway Plaisance and Hayes Drive, other roadway segments that would be closed and converted into open space would be South Midway Plaisance between Stony Island Avenue and Cornell Drive, and Marquette Drive between Stony Island and Richards Drive.

The proposal also would cause a loss of about 236 on-street parking spaces, though the city said it would still leave enough for peak demand.

bkamin@chicagotribune.com

 

 

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