In the 1960's when the City of Crest Hill was incorporated, a Comprehensive Plan was completed to outline the future of this city. Many items in that plan have come to fruition and in many ways we have achieved far more than that plan had laid out. However, one important item in that plan has been allowed to sit uncompleted for over 40 years now. That item is the construction of a bridge across the Des Plaines River connecting Caton Farm Road in Crest Hill and Bruce Road in Lockport.
The need for this bridge has only grown over the years and is now an item that should be of utmost importance. When the Division Street bridge closed in the 1980's we lost a connection to the east and were forced to either go through Joliet or take the two lane high level bridge at Renwick. As growth came to Will county in the 1990's, the traffic became more than the Renwick bridge could handle and backups became a part of daily life for many people. And now in 2007, we are just months away from the opening of I-355 to our east. A bridge at Caton Farm Road along with the upgrading of Bruce Road and eventual interchange at Bruce and I-355 would do more to improve the City of Crest Hill than anything else that has been done or contemplated in the last 40 years.
The bridge would tie Crest Hill into the Lockport and New Lenox areas and allow more people to easily shop, work and live in our city regardless of which side of the river other aspects of their lives are. Also, the bridge would allow residents of Crest Hill to get to the I-355 extension much quicker and easier than is currently possible. This would increase the demand for homes in Crest Hill as we became a better option for those commuting to jobs in DuPage county and elsewhere to our north. This increased demand would lead to higher home values, thereby enriching our residents.
A bridge is also vital to the redevelopment of Broadway as well as increased business on Theodore. Currently this area is located several miles from either the Renwick or Ruby bridges, thus limiting the number of people passing through the area. However, a bridge at Caton Farm road would draw large numbers of people close to this area of the city. The Crest Hill end of the Renwick bridge offers no opportunities for development because the land has been set aside as open space. However, the south side of Caton Farm Road is currently privately owned and could be developed in any manner that best serves the city. In addition, IL-53 south of Caton Farm would have the potential to be commercially developed once the bridge increased the traffic levels in that area. A healthy business community along IL-53, instead of a decaying industrial area, would be quite an asset for Crest Hill.
Our elected officials are working on getting this bridge built, however I feel that there is need to push harder on the State and Federal governments to get this project moving. 40 years has been far too long to wait for a project that has the potential to transform Crest Hill for the better. Crest Hill has seen development occur along the Weber Road corridor and will continue to see development along that road. A Caton Farm bridge would create two additional healthy and attractive development corridors, Caton Farm Road and Broadway Street (IL-53). This bridge literally is the bridge to the future for Crest Hill.
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