ChiTown Traffic Tattler

Riddled with potholes and crumbling, 47th Ward Ald. Gene Schulter hopes to see the Western Avenue overpass gone.

According to a report last month on the Chicago Tribune’s Web site, Schulter said the overpass that carries motorists over Belmont has cost the city millions of dollars in repairs and lowered real estate values over the years.

Two ideas being battered about include the obvious option — replacing the overpass which some say carries a price tag of $30 million. The second option includes tearing it down and adding yet one more three-way intersection to the city.

The overpass was built in 1960 to help relieve congestion near the now-gone Riverview Park, a theme park that covered 74 acres along Western between Belmont and Lane Tech High School, according to John Greenfield.

“The park closed at the end of the 1967 season and was quickly demolished; DeVry Institute of Technology, the Belmont District Police Station and the Riverview Plaza shopping center now occupy the site. Because there’s no on-street parking on that stretch of Western, venues below the overpass like Underbar and the Viaduct Theater rely on the de facto parking spots between its massive concrete support pillars.”