IDOT Schedules Hearing on 47th/East Intersection

Two accidents occurred within hours of each other at the intersection on Tuesday, one involving a train and another sending a man to the hospital.

The Illinois Department of Transportation will hold a meeting at La Grange Village Hall from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Jan. 31 to discuss potential improvements for the intersection of 47th Street and East Avenue, The Doings La Grange reports. According to the paper, the intersection is among 12 that were specifically targeted for improvement after Joliet Road was permanently closed between East Avenue and 55th Street in 1998; IDOT received a $40 million settlement in 2010 from Vulcan Materials to pay for expenses related to redirecting traffic. On Tuesday, there were two accidents at 47th/East in the late afternoon within two hours of each other. First, a head-on crash with a truck sent one man to the hospital; the second minor accident …

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Historical Western Springs

The 4-Lane 47th Street That No One Wanted

In the late 1950’s, Western Springs was becoming accustomed to the just-completed Tri-State Tollway. But, many residents weren’t sure they wanted a wider 47th Street.

Forty-Seventh Street first appeared in Cook County records in 1875, when it was located on a subdivision plat between Wolf Road and Central Avenue. At that time, Wolf Road was known as East Avenue (since it was then the village’s eastern boundary) and 47th Street was called South Boulevard, the southern-most road in town. See second photo. Subsequent plats between 1888 and 1891 showed further extensions to 47th Street. And, records from the late 1890’s indicate that 47th Street was the only “paved” road in town, the surface being gravel. Note that many street names and locations were revised after this early map was drawn. Eventually, the two-lane 47th Street roadway was paved with a hard surface. However, in 1939, the County decided that …

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