Elmhurst Neighborhood 'Very Compliant' On Speed Limit

ELMHURST, IL – An Elmhurst neighborhood is "very compliant" with speed limits, including in the part with an unusually low limit, an official said Monday.

The neighborhood is bound by St. Charles Road to the north, Spring Road to the west, Madison Street to the south and York Street to the east.

Rosemont-based KLOA recently conducted a traffic study of the neighborhood. The city hired the firm to perform neighborhood-by-neighborhood analyses, which are expected to take years.

The area in question is divided by the Canadian National Railroad and the Prairie Path.

"I'm happy to report that this neighborhood was very compliant," Assistant City Manager Kent Johnson told aldermen on the city's public safety committee. "The speeds we saw were compliant almost exclusively."

Mitchell Avenue is among a few streets in the neighborhood in question with a 20 mph speed limit. A consultant recommended increasing it to 25 mph. (Google Maps)

In the last couple of years, the police spent a lot of time focusing on cut-through traffic on Euclid Avenue, he said.

The northern part of the neighborhood is 20 mph, lower than the 25 mph residential limit in the rest of Elmhurst.

The traffic study recommends the 20 mph limit be increased to 25 mph for the sake of consistency.

Johnson said the 20 mph limit is not in the city code.

"I suspect it was put in when cut-through traffic was a problem," he said.

Alderman Guido Nardini questioned whether consistency was a good enough reason to change the limit, as long as it has worked all these years.

Deputy Police Chief Jim Gandy said the 20 mph limit sends a mixed message to drivers. Residents understand the residential limit is 25 mph in Elmhurst, but the city "dings" them for a lower limit in a small section of town, he said.

In this situation, Gandy said, consistency was needed.

The committee expects to hear from a KLOA engineer next month.