Traffic signals at the busy intersection at Fulton and Halsted streets were installed Sept. 25. [DNAinfo/Stephanie Lulay]
WEST LOOP — Frustrated neighbors want to know why traffic signals installed more than a month ago haven't been turned on at the busy Fulton and Halsted intersection.
In an effort to improve safety at the intersection, the traffic signals were installed on Sept. 25 near the Fulton Market gateway, but to date, they have not been turned on. That's because ComEd has not yet connected the traffic signals to a power source, said Mike Claffey, Chicago Department of Transportation spokesman.
Claffey said the city did not yet have estimate as to when the lights would be turned on. A power source did not previously exist at the site, he said.
"It can take up to several weeks or several months until the power source is provided to turn a signal on," Claffey said. "We're working to do so."
Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. (27th) said this week that the stoplights were much needed in the lively corridor and his staff was doing all they could to make sure that ComEd completed the needed work promptly.
"They are still having accidents right there," Burnett said. "It's not safe."
The signal installation is part of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's Fulton Market Innovation District, a $42 million plan designed to help shape development in the West Loop. The plan, announced in early 2014, calls for millions of dollars to be spent on infrastructure improvements including sidewalk and road repairs.
Most of those dollars, including money to build a gateway, will come from the Kinzie Industrial Corridor tax increment financing district set up in 1998. As of 2013, the TIF district had a balance of about $70 million.
The new traffic signals come after the $500,000 gateway marking the entrance of the booming Fulton Market district was installed in February. The decorative gateway, at Fulton Street near Halsted Street, was installed with tax increment financing funds from the Kinzie Industrial Corridor.
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