A project at least four years away is getting a lot of attention now from area residents.
Improvements along 55th Street from Wolf Road to Brainard Avenue are not part of the Illinois Department of Transportation’s fiscal year 2017-22 Proposed Highway Improvement Program, but that didn’t stop a steady stream of people from visiting the Pleasantdale Fire Protection District Headquarters Wednesday to learn more about the project and give their input.
Kimberly Murphy, consultant studies unit head with IDOT, said just because the project going through Western Springs, La Grange, Countryside and LaGrange Highlands isn’t on the five-year plan doesn’t mean it might not happen in that time.
“IDOT is committed to funding $40 million in highway improvements in this area,” Murphy said. “The agency has $40 million to spend here.”
She added that the $6 million improvement plan came in the aftermath of closing Joliet Road. The road was closed between 55th Street and East Avenue in 1998 due to safety and structural integrity concerns.
IDOT’s plan for 55th Street includes:
* widening and resurfacing the roadway to add a median to separate opposing traffic lanes and provide a secure place to go for vehicles turning left.
* adding an 8-foot shared-use path on the north side of the road from Wolf Road to Stone Avenue.
* adding a 5-foot sidewalk on the south side of the roadway between Laurel Avenue and Willow Springs Road.
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* creating a southbound right-turn lane at Willow Springs Road.
* creating left-turn lanes at Edgewood Avenue, Calle View Drive and Laurel.
* making drainage improvements.
* adding pedestrian signals and crosswalks.
* replacing traffic signals at Brainard Avenue, Willow Springs Road, Laurel and Wolf.
Colleen Munro-Leighton went to the fire headquarters in the hopes of seeing or hearing something that would reduce truck traffic near her home along 55th Street in La Grange.
“When trucks go past our home, it is quite loud,” Munro-Leighton said after talking with IDOT staff and giving public testimony to a court reporter who was present. “I expressed my hope that they would make a designated truck route in the area.”
She said designating La Grange Road as a truck route would help get semi-trailers off of 55th Street.
Munro-Leighton, an avid cyclist, said the shared-use path between Wolf and Stone is good, but it doesn’t go far enough.
“I wouldn’t call it a bike path,” she said. “It’s a pedestrian path. You need something longer than five blocks to call it a bike path.”
Still, the path improvement is something, she said, noting she would not even consider riding a bike along 55th Street in its current state.
Murphy said with the project taking fewer than three-quarters of an acre of land in total from nine parcels, there wasn’t a lot of push-back at the project open house about land acquisition. She said there was a constant stream of people during the three-hour event.
“There’s been an excellent turnout,” she said in the event’s final hour.
Phase I of the 55th improvement plan will be completed by the end of this year. Individuals may submit comments or questions before Sept. 14 in writing to Illinois Department of Transportation, 201 W. Center Court, Schaumburg IL 60196-1096, Attn: Bureau of Programming, Ken Yang, P.E. Comments and questions may also be sent via email to [email protected].
Phase II of the project would be contract plan preparation and land acquisition, which normally takes 18 to 24 months, but that phase also requires project funding. Murphy said if the project was funded in the next budget, construction work (Phase III) could begin as soon as 2020.
Eva Campbell attended the information session with her mother, Eve Pusateri. The two La Grange homeowners, who live just off 55th Street, wanted to get more insight into the project.
“It makes sense,” Campbell said.
She said she was glad to see the shared-use path as part of the plan.
“A lot of people take 55th Street when they are walking,” Campbell said.
She said she was also pleased to see that the path is proposed to provide a connection to St. Cletus School, although that connection is beyond the proposed IDOT program’s limits.
Kevin Beese is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.