Elmhurst council approves engineering contract for Route 83 pedestrian bridge amid resident opposition to Fay Avenue path

Elmhurst City Council on Sept. 2 approved an engineering services agreement for a pedestrian and bicycle bridge over Illinois Route 83, a step staff said is needed to advance design and secure federal funding — even as dozens of Fay Avenue residents urged the council to rework the street-level connection that would bring an eight-foot shared path through private driveways. The resolution to authorize the city to execute the local public agency engineering services agreement passed in roll call after discussion; the final tally recorded in the meeting transcript was 10 ayes, 1 nay and 3 absent.

The bridge project has been under study since a 2018 referral and has gone through multiple open houses, staff and aldermen said. Alderman (Bostido) moved the resolution and said the project responds to resident requests going back to 2018 and that plan changes — including a secondary access point and pavement markings — were added after neighborhood comment. “This is a resolution that pertains to the Route 83…