SSMMA joins the Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways in spotlighting our member community of Burnham, IL. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Asst. DOTH Superintendent Jennifer (Sis) Killen stopped by this week to join Mayor Robert Polk for a segment in the “Transportation Tuesday” series to discuss a bicycle-pedestrian bridge that will be constructed over five sets of railroad tracks to help close a quarter mile of the Burnham Greenway Gap. See the video. The Burnham Greenway is a connection to a larger regional trail system. It starts at 100th Street and the Skyway in Chicago’s East Side neighborhood and goes south to Avenue O and Wolf Lake in the Hegewisch neighborhood. Going south, the Burnham becomes the Pennsy Greenway, which connects to the Old Plank Road, Thorn Creek, Centennial and I&M Canal trails. The Village of Burnham received $50,000 during the 2018 Invest in Cook cycle in order to complete preliminary engineering for the bicycle and pedestrian bridge. The phase is expected to be completed in 2021, followed by a 2-year design phase. Construction is scheduled for 2024.
Mayor Robert Polk has been the village president of Burnham since 2005 and was the first African American man elected to a village government post there when he became a trustee in 2001. In 2012, he was honored by the Chicago Defender as one of its 50 “Men of Excellence” for contributions and giving back to the community and being a popular role model.
Rich in natural assets, Burnham is home to the Burnham Prairie Nature Preserve, Burnham Woods Golf Course, Burnham Woods, Powderhorn Marsh and Prairie and Powder Horn Lake. The Little Calumet and Grand Calumet Rivers flow through it. Burnham was named for Telford Burnham who drew its plat; not, as is widely assumed, by Chicago city planner and architect Daniel Burnham. The village has a population of 4,206 and is located just south of the Hegewisch neighborhood in Chicago. It borders Hammond, Indiana to the east, Dolton to the west and Calumet City to the south.
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