Plan resurrected for electronic billboard in Jefferson Park street

City officials have resurrected a plan to build a massive electronic billboard in the middle of the street in a Jefferson Park neighborhood, nearly 2½ 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 prior versions of the plan were scrapped in 2015 after vehement opposition from Alderman John Arena 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.

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