The Forest Park traffic and safety commission issued several recommendations for improving pedestrian crossings and addressing traffic issues throughout the village.
The commission recommended several improvements for the residential blocks north of Roosevelt Road that are impacted by the customers leaving the nearby shopping plazas. Other major recommendations include adding the “yield to pedestrians” sign at the Madison Street/Elgin Avenue intersection and painting a dedicated pick-up/drop-off area for parents who send their kids to the Mohr Community Center.
The village council has historically has followed up on many traffic commission recommendations. The commissioners appeared receptive to the latest round of suggestions, with several commenting that they appreciated that the solutions were inexpensive and easy to implement.
The Dec. 18 presentation was the first presentation commission chairman Jordan Kuehn had given since October 2022. He told the council that he was hoping to give more frequent updates in the future.
For the Madison Street corridor, the commission recommended adding “yield to pedestrians” signs at all crosswalks. Kuehn said that they would especially recommend adding one at the spot where Beloit Avenue stops and northbound traffic sometimes continues onto Burkhart Court. He described it “almost a mirror image” of the complex Madison Street/Elgin Avenue intersection near the east end of the village – a spot where, at the commission’s recommendation, the village put in a “yield to pedestrians” sign last winter.
Many of the recommendations dealt with areas south of Eisenhower Expressway. Most notably, several residents of the 1000 block of Lathrop Avenue signed a petition requesting traffic calming measures as they grapple with traffic from the Forest Park Mall.
Resident Will Carpenter spoke during the meeting, saying that many mall customers use Lathrop Avenue as a shortcut to reach Des Plaines Avenue.
“A lot of the times, they just disregard the stop sign right there and speed right through,” he said. “There have been times when me and my son have been almost hit [by cars] speeding down Lathrop. There have been accidents, thousand dollars’ worth of damage.”
Carpenter said that this is especially problematic given the growing number of families with kids on the block, and the fact that the Bilingual Montessori Lab Academy private school is located nearby on Dunlop Avenue.
“There are people who regularly disregard the school bus that stops there at Lathrop [Avenue] and Filmore [Street],” he said. “I’ve even seen residents get into confrontations with people.”
Kuehn said that the commission is considering several different long-term solutions, but in the meantime, it’s recommending painting parking lanes on both sides of the road, saying that there’s been multiple studies showing that narrowing the road reduces spending.
Elsewhere south of the expressway, the commission recommended adding yellow curbs on all sides of the intersection of Circle Avenue and Lexington Street and repainting the existing traffic lines. To reduce traffic issues around the Dollar Tree location on Roosevelt Road., it proposed making the section of Troost Avenue between Roosevelt Road and the east-west alley behind the store two-way. The commission also recommended adding a deer crossing warning on the section of Des Plaines Avenue south of Walmart – a suggestion that surprised Commissioner Maria Maxham.
“I had no idea deer were such a problem in Desplaines,” she said. “Does it happen often?”
Kuehn responded that while it wasn’t “too often,” it was enough of an issue to warrant a sign.
“[Deer] kind of cross from one cemetery to another,” he said.
On the north side of town, the commission considered the issue of trucks that travel west on Washington Boulevard getting stuck as they try to turn south onto Marengo Avenue. It recommends putting up a sign directing trucks to turn north onto Elgin Avenue instead. It recommends repainting crosswalks and adding pedestrian signs at the intersection of Randolph Street and Marengo Avenue. It recommended painting a designated pick-up/drop off area in front of the Mohr Community Center entrance, to make it more convenient for parents to pick up and drop off their kids.
A major recurring issue facing Forest Park are the funeral processions that make their way down Jackson Boulevard to reach near Desplaines Avenue. The commission explored using drones to help monitor the processions, but ultimately decided to recommend putting in traffic cameras instead.
Commissioners Ryan Nero and Maxham said that they appreciated that the suggestions were inexpensive.
“What jumps off the page is that they’re all relatively low-cost solutions,” Nero said.
The advisory commission meets at least once a month to hear resident complaints and suggestions and recommends ways the village can address them.
Kuehn presented the latest batch of recommendations during the December 2023 village council meeting.
