$7.2 Million Joe Orr Road Project to Yield Economic Benefits, Says Preckwinkle
The board president says extending Joe Orr Road into Indiana will greatly benefit municipalities in south-east Cook County.
Joe Orr Road was recently realigned and will be extended into Indiana, and the benefits of the 1.3 mile project are coming, according to Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.
The project, which started east of Stony Island Avenue and went to Torrence Avenue in Lansing, moved Joe Orr Road further south and expanded it to five lanes, according to the release from the Preckwinkle's office. Torrence also grew to three lanes from the new Joe Orr intersection to the old one. With a future expansion into Munster, IN in mind, a traffic signal was installed at the new intersection as well.
"This project reflects the department’s strategic role as an active force in economic development. We recognize that building and improving infrastructure is the first step toward attracting business,” Preckwinkle said in a press release.
New curbs and gutters, drainage improvements, parkway and median landscaping, as well as new pavement markings and signs were all part of the first phase, which has costed roughly $7.2 million to date.
The six-year expansion project is expected to wrap up in 2017. The plan is for Joe Orr Road to become a major "east-west corridor" for the southeast part of the County.
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Annonymous
12:05 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013
Bull$&!#. The extension of Joe Orr to Indiana is a boondoggle that will make it easier for money to leave the county to shop in lower-tax Indiana.
Another way for Cook county to spend millions on "economic development" projects that don't have any economic impact except to line the pockets of the construction companies that get the work and expand the budget of the taxing bodies that authorize it. There are about 10,000 things Crook County might have spent money on that would have more economic benefit including simply not spending the money and reducing the taxes.
ridgeroadmike
12:07 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013
You know, I'm an urbanite myself but even I am disgusted by this perverse desire to destroy every last farm in Cook County. The Chicago politicians don't really care who they hurt, do they?
bob goad
9:26 am on Saturday, February 2, 2013
I went by the other day and seen the new road and said to myself who got the kickback to do that.
Juvenal
11:41 am on Saturday, February 2, 2013
"and SAW the new road"....
Kathy
10:35 pm on Saturday, February 2, 2013
You must get points to correct grammar. How very superior of you.
Juvenal
11:51 pm on Saturday, February 2, 2013
It's a thankless job, but someone has to do it ....
Tom Losh
3:07 pm on Sunday, February 3, 2013
Anyone who thinks Preckwinkle is all that needs to see this: http://www.cookcountygov.com/portal/server.pt/community/revenue%2C_department_of/313/non-retailer_use_tax/678. How do these people get away with this? How many people are even aware of this? I hear they send you a bill after the fact. Has anyone experienced this?
Darnell
3:48 pm on Sunday, February 3, 2013
Preckwinkle is nothing more than another machine hack who has an aura of honesty yet is still one of the gang. That aura is as phony as her baffle em with BS rhetoric that she spews yet all the voters think she is the answer to the change they seek towards an honest for the people politician. Check your back pockets people, she already has your wallet!
Tom
7:16 pm on Sunday, February 3, 2013
They don't have the money to repair the infrastructure we have but boy can we come up with 7.2 M for a road to nowhere.