Pedestrian bridge in Wheeling to bear name of library grant writer

Pedestrians who cross Buffalo Creek in Wheeling this summer have Sharon Ball to thank.

Ball was a consultant with the North Suburban Library System who spent years trying to get state grant money to rebuild the bridge.

A few months before she died, Wheeling received $232,000 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money to completely fund the project.

"The project didn't end up costing the village or the library a thing," said Tony Stavros, Wheeling's director of public works.

On Monday, the Wheeling village board will officially name the bridge the "Sharon S. Ball Memorial Bridge" in honor of its biggest advocate, who succumbed to breast cancer in September 2009.

She worked for the North Suburban Library System for 11 years, and before becoming a grant writing specialist, she was a school and youth services liaison, said Sarah Long, executive director of the library system.

"Our members just loved Sharon and she really had a head for figures," Long said. "I think her father was an accountant, so it was in her genes."

Ball worked on the bridge's funding for 10 years, Long said.

"All that hard work paid off, because when it came time to apply for those recovery act funds, all the paperwork was ready," Long said. "That recovery money freed us from any obligation and didn't cost the village anything."

Ball, 59, and her husband Kenneth had two daughters and lived in Roselle.

The new bridge was dropped next to the old one in December. The new 48-by-14-foot bridge superstructure over Buffalo Creek was delivered and installed as part of the Hawthorne School Bridge Replacement Program.

It crosses Buffalo Creek between the North Suburban Library System at 200 W. Dundee Road and the Hawthorne Early Childhood School at 200 Glendale St.

Pedestrians and bicyclists from residential areas north and east of the creek use the bridge to get to Wheeling's Village Hall, park district and post office.

The old bridge dates back 100 years and was originally built for farmers to move their equipment between fields. It will be demolished this spring. The new bridge will be open to the public in late spring or early summer, Stavros said.