Plan to put electronic billboard in middle of Jefferson Park street resurrected

City officials have resurrected a plan to build a massive electronic billboard in the middle of the street in a Jefferson Park neighborhood, nearly 2 ½ years after officials first began working to build one of the last of the massive signs approved by the City Council in 2013.

The revised plan calls for the intersection at Wilson and Lamon to remain open to traffic in both directions — with a stop sign directing traffic around the billboard.

Two previous versions of the plan were scrapped in 2015 after vehement opposition from Ald. John Arena (45th) and residents. The initial plan would have closed the road to traffic entirely, while the second would have made Wilson one way.

The 100-foot tall electronic message sign would be the fourth and last to be built in the 45th Ward. Arena was one of six aldermen to vote against the digital-billboard deal, which gave JCDecaux and Interstate Outdoor rights to build 63 towering advertisements near Chicago expressways. After the deal was extended for four years by the City Council in 2017, it is set to expire in 2036.

There will be enough room for only one lane of traffic to travel around the billboard, according to a statement from the Chicago Department of Transportation. Stop signs with red flashing beacons will be installed on either side of the extended curb around the billboard, and drivers will take turns traveling past the billboard.

The pavement will be marked and signs installed to ensure traffic moves “safely and efficiently,” according to the statement.

The billboard deal guaranteed the city $154 million, but a cost-sharing provision could bring in a total of $270 million, according to city officials.

The billboard was first set to be built on the front lawn of the Mayfair Pumping Station. However, after engineers discovered that would damage the underground infrastructure used to pump water for more than a million residents, the billboard was moved to the middle of the road, and work began on July 20, 2015, to close the road to traffic in both directions.

After Arena, who said his office was not notified of the work, used his car to block construction crews from continuing to tear up the street, city officials agreed to revise their plan.

Many residents use the route as a shortcut to get around the typically gridlocked intersection of Lawrence and Cicero.

The revised plan called for Lamon to be turned into a one-way street southbound from Sunnyside to where it curves into Wilson, preserving a path to the Edens Expressway that many Jefferson Park residents take downtown.

That plan was scrapped after a contentious community meeting, where many residents called the plan ludicrous.

At that meeting in October 2015, city officials said they had considered dozens of other possible locations for the billboard, but had determined that the only feasible option was to build it in the road. If built farther east, the billboard would violate state law for being too close to another electronic billboard, officials said.

Construction on the billboard is expected to begin May 7, which will require the intersection to be completely closed. Work is expected to be complete in mid-August, weather permitting, Arena said.

Arena will host a community meeting at 6:30 p.m. May 2 at the Copernicus Center Annex, 5214 W. Lawrence Ave., to discuss the billboard and give residents a chance to question city traffic officials.