by BRIAN NADIG Marian (Kosel) Anderson, an avid dancer and swimmer with a passion for helping children, grew up in Jefferson Park and graduated from Beaubien Elementary School, Taft High read story
City vehicle emissions testing to return to the Northwest Side in 2025
by CYRYL JAKUBOWSKI
The state EPA is planning to reopen the former Chicago vehicle emissions testing site at 6959 W. Forest Preserve Drive reportedly by next year in hopes to alleviate the lengthy wait times motorists sometimes experience in the suburbs.
Originally slated to open in September of this year, the IEPA said that the state executed a contract with a vendor in March for a city facility replacement program and “they have been working on implementation of the new program that is set to go live in spring 2025,” a statement said.
“This will include the reopening of the former vehicle emissions testing site at 6959 W. Forest Preserve Drive in Chicago.” WGN News first reported the reopening date.
The Forest Preserve site closed in 2016 during 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.
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.
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; three other self-service kiosks elsewhere in the city to replace the dismantled Chicago test stations; and one mobile testing unit.
In the report, the kiosks could be located at “(Secretary of State) locations, state colleges and universities, community centers, and private properties.”
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, were 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.
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 state Representative Lindsey LaPointe (D-19).
Feigenholtz said in 2022 that removing every last testing station within the city was an ill-conceived scheme and another postmortem blunder of the Rauner administration. Feigenholtz told WGN recently that she was bringing a spotlight to the issue since the facility was supposed to be open in September.
A staffer in Feigenholtz’s office said that this was “a nudge” to make sure the project comes to fruition by spring of next year.
No Pop-Ups
Weekly Digital Edition
Read every story. Skip every pop-up.
Get the full weekly edition delivered to your inbox — no interruptions, no waiting. Just local news the way it was meant to be read.
Only $19.50/year — less than 38¢ a week
Subscribe Now
This is just part of today’s coverage. Get the full story - every article, every ad, every page. Subscribe now.
The Latest From Our Community
by BRIAN NADIG A 34-year-old man was fatally shot inside the AbuHashish Smoke Shop, 5612 W. Irving Park Road, at about 9:35 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 1, in the Portage Park read story
A man has been charged with attempted kidnapping/enticement in connection with a Sept. 10 incident in which a 15-year-old girl reported that a driver several times asked her to get read story
by BRIAN NADIG Whether the next Chicago school board president can serve independently of the special interests that support them was asked of each of the three candidates at a read story
by BRIAN NADIG The attendance rate at Taft High School is up significantly this school year, while enrollment has dropped from a high of about 4,200 in recent years to read story
A man was arrested for allegedly trying to hijack a vehicle at about 10:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25, in the 6200 block of North Milwaukee Avenue, in Gladstone Park, according read story
Browse by Category
No Pop-Ups
Weekly Digital Edition
Read every story.
Skip every pop-up.
No pop-up ads — ever. Just stories, the way they were meant to be read
Full weekly edition delivered to your inbox every week — no waiting, no missing issues
Support local journalism and help keep our community connected
Only $19.50/year
That's less than 38¢ a week
Purchase Digital Subscription
Paypal
$19.50
/year
You can submit your payment via Paypal with a Credit Card. You DO NOT NEED TO HAVE A PAYPAL ACCOUNT.. Just click the “Paypal Subscribe” button below to iniate your secure payment! You will be directed to a Secure Paypal page in which you can pay with a Paypal account if you have one, or you can select "Pay with Debit or Credit Cardt" option below and process your payment via credit card.
Venmo
$19.50
/year
You can submit payment of $19.50 for a 1 year subscription to Nadig Newspapers' Venmo account using this link. Please include the email address in the comment/note section that you would like the digital subscription sent to.