Name circle interchange, O’Hare terminal for ex-Mayor Byrne: pols

Sneed exclusive . . .

The forgotten mayor: The finale?

Sneed has learned Gov. Pat Quinn will propose renaming the Circle Interchange — located in the heart of Chicago — in honor of Chicago’s first and only woman mayor, Jane Byrne.

“Mayor Jane Byrne is an icon who has been ignored — but will no longer be forgotten — if I have anything to do with it,” said Quinn, who tells Sneed he has already instructed the Illinois Department of Transportation to start the process to rename the interchange.

“It will be called the Jane Byrne Interchange; thereby enabling her name to be on the lips of every traffic report daily in the city,” said Quinn.

“This way the legacy of our first woman mayor will never be forgotten again.”

The Circle Interchange is where the Kennedy, the Eisenhower and the Dan Ryan Expressways come together in the center of Chicago, which has been a nightmare to untangle.

“It’s now part of our highway construction program to repair it,” said Quinn.

The ill and frail Byrne, whose legacy has been buried in the city archives since she lost the Dem mayoral primary in 1983, is now part of a groundswell to honor her name since this column began a series on our forgotten mayor last week.

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