City vehicle emissions testing facility reportedly to reopen in March

by CYRYL JAKUBOWSKI

The former Chicago vehicle emissions testing site at 6959 W. Forest Preserve Drive will reportedly reopen on Saint Patrick’s Day on March 17, according to state Representative Lindsey LaPointe (D-19).

The reopening of the testing site aims to alleviate lengthy wait times motorists sometimes experience in the suburbs. It was originally slated to open in September of last year after the state executed a contract with a vendor in March for a city facility replacement program, according to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

The Forest Preserve site closed in 2016 during former Governor Bruce Rauner’s administration. In recent years, residents may remember long lines at the facility when it was used for COVID-19 testing during the early stages of the pandemic.

“In 2022, I was proud to lead the bill that required the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to create a plan to replace the dismantled vehicle emission testing sites across the City of Chicago,” LaPointe said in a statement. “Today, I’m pleased to see our work have a direct impact on our Northwest Side neighbors, with the emission testing site on Forest Preserve Drive slated to reopen this March.”

A law signed by Governor JB Pritzker aims at reopening the station in Chicago. The IEPA released a report last year detailing the opening of the Northwest Side station. Senate Bill 1234 was sponsored by state Senator Sara Feigenholtz (D-6) and co-sponsored by Senator Robert Martwick (D-10). It was sponsored in the House by LaPointe.

According to the plan, only the Forest Preserve site would be reopened in the city. In the IEPA report, plans call for one centralized test station with 10 workstations and one self-service kiosk that would be open 24-hours a day, 7-days a week; six inspection and repair test stations elsewhere in the city; 3 other self-service kiosks elsewhere in the city; and two mobile testing units. LaPointe’s chief of staff Julia Mkrtychian said that more details will follow in the coming weeks.

In the report, the kiosks could be located at “(Secretary of State) locations, state colleges and universities, community centers, and private properties.”

Mkrtychian said LaPointe would  like to organize a meeting where the IEPA can walk through the new program, site, and features that will be available when the it opens.

The facility on Forest Preserve Drive, which was one of the original facilities that opened when Illinois began the emissions testing program in 1986, as well as the facilities at 1850 W. Webster Ave., 2450 Landmeier Road in Elk Grove Village and 7460 Duvan Drive in Tinley Park, closed in 2016. The nearest facility that’s open on the Northwest Side is in Skokie at 3555 W. Jarvis Ave.

Other open facilities are at 5231 W. 70th Place, in Bedford Park, 195 Liberty Road, Crystal Lake, 580 Bond St., Lincolnshire, 435 Weston Ridge Road, Naperville, 1675 Mitchell Boulevard, Schaumburg, and 2161 Northwestern Ave., Waukegan.

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