City Pushing for 27th Street Reconstruction Sooner Than Later

After the state Department of Transportation pushed back a reconstruction of 27th Street two years, the Oak Creek Common Council on Tuesday passed a resolution it hopes will help get the project back on schedule.

The resolution comes after a 27th Street committee moved forward on a "streetscape" plan. The plan identifies certain elements, like monument signs, street lighting and trees, that would be installed as part of the reconstruction.

The plan comes with a recommendation that reconstruction occur in 2015. That was the original start date until the state announced last month it would push the project to 2017.

Doug Seymour, director of community development, said it's possible that adopting the streetscape plan will help get construction back on track to start in 2015.

27th Street is one of three major areas (Delphi and the lakefront being the other two) that Oak Creek is targeting for redevelopment, and officials believe the reconstruction will help those efforts.

Construction is planned for the stretch of 27th Street between College and Drexel avenues.