Just wait until the tollway is built. Just wait until the tollway is built. Mitzi Opon lived in Matteson and watched as her neighborhood changed after Lincoln Mall moved in. Now, she fears that the same thing will happen in the neighborhood she moved into this past November. Opon lives in the 19000 block of Cherry Street, a quiet little dead-end street less than a mile east of U.S. 45.
Plans are to extend the street someday, and that has residents upset.
A group, calling itself the Cherry Street Extension Committee, met with village officials recently, and group members aren't happy with the outcome. My neighbor and I spent two days collecting more than 150 signatures to show the village that residents don't want the extension. It is ironic. The village plans to extend the street north to 191st Street, where a shopping plaza, a banquet hall, a motel, a commuter station and several fast-food restaurants are located. Plans to the south are to extend to LaPorte Road, where a new Dominick's grocery store recently opened.