A $44,000 study of the Cedar Road corridor was approved by a 4-3 vote of the New Lenox Village Board this week.
The contract awarded to Metro Transportation includes $10,000 worth of traffic counts, said Carrie Hansen, planning and zoning administrator.
Village officials said they want further study of New Lenox’s main north-south roadway, especially in view of the proposed extension of Interstate Highway 355 from Bolingbrook to New Lenox.
Trustee Dave Smith, who favors the study, said the Cedar Road corridor, with its mix of agricultural, residential and industrial zoning areas between U.S. Highway 6 and Laraway Road, is “very complex.”
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Smith said the goal is to find out “how to ease traffic.”
Trustee Dave Batson, who voted against the study along with Trustee Tom Weigel and Mayor John Nowakowski, said the Village Board has enough information from previous studies. Batson recommended reserving study for Cedar Road’s problem area immediately north and south of U.S. Highway 30, where commuter railroad tracks tie up traffic.
Residents who oppose the study are concerned about the cost and that the road will be widened to four lanes.
Jan Filipiak, who gave trustees an anti-study petition signed by 750 residents, said $44,000 is too costly and previous studies have recommended de-emphasizing Cedar Road as a main transportation corridor and developing an outer roadway belt.
Nowakowski said fears that Cedar Road will be widened are unfounded. The Cedar Road controversy “started out with an intersection (study of Cedar Road and Haven Avenue). . . . I don’t know about anyone on this board saying Cedar Road should be widened to four lanes.”