Franklin Avenue Rail Stop may get some improvements, someday!

by David Rubenstein

People who get off the light rail at Franklin avenue and head west, up the long incline toward Bloomington, walk through what is probably the most desolate, dangerous, poorly designed and least maintained “artery” leading to and from any stop on the LRT line. (See October South Side Pride, “The creepy ‘No-Person Zone’ at the Franklin LRT stop: Gateway to Greater Phillips.”)
This a virtual wind tunnel that takes you under the Hiawatha overpass, where it’s dark, isolated, and during much of the winter covered with a hundred feet of glare ice instead of sidewalk.

There is a plan for redeveloping this area, but it’s on a timetable that’s measured in years. That plan includes some major changes in the roadway, according to sixth ward council member Robert Lilligren, and that’s one reason the area has been neglected. Funding has been diverted, rather than being used for improvements that might need to be taken out later.

That strategy could change, Lilligren says. “We need to separate out smaller, low-cost, high-benefit projects that can get done more quickly, and going forward that is what I want to do.”

The mayor’s office, through his director of communications Jeremy Hanson, said they were unaware of any plans at the moment.

When contacted some weeks ago, Heidi Hamilton, said that lack of money prevented Public Works from doing a lot of things they would like to do, and improving this stretch of Franklin is one of them.

Comments from city officials made it clear that no one at the moment intends to do anything about it.

City to Phillips: “Get used to it!”