Skokie
and
Lincolnwood
will partner to add a pair of two-way stop signs along Jarvis Avenue, where the villages share a border, officials said.
The Lincolnwood board of trustees voted recently to approve the signs at Kedvale and Lowell avenues , setting the stage for crews to erect them in “early February,” according to Village Manager Timothy Wiberg.
Skokie leaders had asked the neighboring town early last year to consider the new traffic safety measures, according to Andrew Letson, Lincolnwood’s director of public works.
Together, the two intersections have seen five crashes in the past two years, according to a traffic study launched in 2017 by Lincolnwood officials. The study also found that the spots combine for more than 400 car crossings every day, officials said.
About one-third of those crossings go north or south across Jarvis — enough to make them stop for traffic on the larger street, Letson said.
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“We have to be careful because if we build a stop sign where there isn’t enough traffic to warrant it, people will just roll through it,” Letson said. “And that will just make it more dangerous.”
Two-way stop signs already stand over the intersections where Jarvis meets Crawford, Kildare and Tripp avenues.
The new signs are a welcome addition for Lito Mercado, who lives in the 7300 block of North Lowell Avenue. Mercado called Lowell and Jarvis a “dangerous intersection.”
“I definitely remember there being accidents there,” Mercado said. “It will be nice to have something to get people to slow down.”
Skokie officials would oversee the erection of the signs, Letson said.
The Lincolnwood Village Board also approved at the Jan. 16 meeting measures to streamline the investigation process for allegations of sexual harassment within village government.
A state law passed signed in November requires governments across Illinois to draw explicit procedures for reporting sexual misconduct.
In December, mayor Barry Bass published an open letter to village employees promising a “comprehensive review” of the town’s sexual harassment policy, including a “new village-wide training initiative.”
“I want everyone associated with the Village of Lincolnwood to know that we are fully committed to maintaining a professional environment, and a workplace free of any forms of unlawful harassment or discrimination,” Bass wrote.
Alex Nitkin is a freelancer.