West suburban villages, such as Western Springs and Indian Head Park, are going on the record that they oppose the widening of Plainfield Road to five lanes through their communities.
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The Indian Head Park Village Board unanimously approved a resolution Thursday against expanding Plainfield Road to two lanes in each direction with a center turn lane, saying the additional lanes would generate more traffic, more noise and more pollution and be detrimental to its residents.
The Cook County Department of Highways and Transportation is studying how to improve Plainfield Road from County Line Road in Burr Ridge to East Avenue in Countryside.
Western Springs Village Engineer Jeff Koza in May sent a letter to the county saying five-lanes were not needed.
“Even if traffic volumes reached their 2050 projection, we felt three lanes could safely handle the traffic,” through Western Springs, which does not extend east of Wolf Road, Koza said.
“Traffic during the rush hour does tend to get backed up,” Koza said, but there are other ways to address that, such as widening the road just at the intersections.
To widen Plainfield to a total of five lanes, would require more land than exists in the public right of way, and would significantly impact property owners on both sides of Plainfield between Interstate 294 and Wolf Road, Koza said.
Yet the county’s own preliminary report indicated there would be minimal operational benefit from having five lanes, he said.
Currently, Plainfield has one eastbound and one westbound lane in each direction, between I-294 and Wolf, with left-turn lanes on eastbound Plainfield at both entrances to the Timber Trails subdivision, which is on the northwest corner of Plainfield and Wolf, he said.
Koza, on behalf of Western Springs, said he asked the county to designate a pedestrian crosswalk where people from the Timber Trails side would be able to safely cross Plainfield to reach a “shared-use” path of 8-feet to 10-feet wide on the south side of the road for bicyclists, runners and pedestrians.
“If you are going to rebuild the road, you might as well add the path,” Koza said.
Burr Ridge has not done an internal analysis of the designs proposed, nor made any findings yet, but is working with the highway department to set up open houses or other opportunities for community engagement, the interim village administrator Evan Walter said in an email.
The West Central Municipal Conference, whose members include Burr Ridge, La Grange, Countryside, Western Springs and Indian Head Park, sent Cook County a formal objection in May to the five-lane configuration.
“It would create a dangerous condition to the existing natural topography,” Richard Pellegrino said.
“I’ve driven Plainfield Road about 5,000 times in the last 40 years,” Pellegrino said. He estimates the road drops about 40 feet from Wolf Road to I-294. The road also curves slightly to the north in that section.
Plus, widening the road to five lanes would impact “the quiet enjoyment and quality of life of area property owners and residents,” the conference wrote.
Pellegrino said he has never heard officials from any of his member municipalities complain about traffic bottlenecks on Plainfield Road.
Cars may back up at certain times, such as when the La Grange Highland schools on Plainfield Road are letting out, but traffic backed up twice a day for short periods of time should not be a catalyst to widen the road to five lanes, Pellegrino said.