Division Street Enhancements
Melrose Park, Illinois
Hancock Engineering, Village of Melrose Park
Division Street is a principal east / west corridor through the Village of Melrose Park, connecting the village from 9th Avenue, on the east, to 25th Avenue, on the west. The Village is seeking to reposition itself, and differentiate itself from, other western inner suburbs; one of the strategies it to support and expand a nascent restaurant district at Division Street and 15th Avenue, and encourage and support other restaurant and entertainment uses in the Division Street corridor. The Village realized that the district needed not only the restaurant and entertainment uses, but also a distinctive district identity, and hired Wolff Landscape Architecture, Inc. to develop the Division Street streetscape design.
The planning framework for the streetscape includes east and west “gateways” at 9th and 25th avenues, a minor “node” at Broadway Avenue, and a major “node” at 15th Avenue, which is flanked by two of the existing restaurants. The streetscape design palette consists of a number of elements: 1) landscaped medians at all nodes and gateways; these are achieved by removing the parking lanes and adding a median with raised, sloping planters in the center of the street. 2) Two primary 35 foot height steel pylons with light “garlands” on either side of the 15th Avenue intersection. 3) An overhead canopy of small, sparking LED lights around the 15th Avenue node, supported by slender, tapered light poles with a design similar to the pylons. 4) A secondary 22 foot height steel identifier pylon at the east and west gateways, similar in design to the primary pylons. 5) New sidewalks, including brick parkways in the restaurant district. 6) New shade trees throughout the length of the corridor. 7) New site fixtures and furnishings throughout the corridor.
The Bureau of Architecture and Design was the architectural consultant and Hancock Engineering was the civil engineer and prime consultant on the project. The project was completed in 2012 on time and within the $1.1 million budget.