(The following story by Mary Wisniewski appeared on the Chicago Sun-Times website on August 6.)
CHICAGO — Bellwood is getting its new Metra station after months of negotiations with Union Pacific.
“This is the epitome of a win-win arrangement and an ideal public-private partnership,” said Bellwood Mayor Frank A. Pasquale. He said the station will be the “locomotive” to drive development in the western suburb.
After the station and related development go up, “Bellwood will no longer remain just a little town,” Pasquale said. “It will be an important asset in the western suburbs because of the easy in-and-out transportation and because of the jobs this will create.”
Bellwood wants the new station to replace the current Bellwood and Melrose Park stations — basic structures with limited parking. The current Bellwood station sits under Mannheim Road. The new station would anchor a 55-acre retail and housing development.
The project needed the consent and cooperation from Omaha-based Union Pacific, which controls the tracks.
Pasquale said Union Pacific was “open-minded” about the project, and just needed to have all the facts to agree to the plan. Those included a traffic underpass at 25th Avenue, a pedestrian bridge so commuters don’t have to cross the tracks and a way to deal with excess water from nearby Addison Creek.
The new station, to be completed next year, will be located at about 29th Avenue, north of Grant Street.
The Metra station and a two-story parking garage will cost between $10 million and $15 million, funded by TIF bonds.