Too Many Stop Signs Planned: Elmhurst Official

ELMHURST, IL – An Elmhurst alderman voted Tuesday against a traffic study that involves parts of his ward. He said the study recommends too many stop signs and fails to address an intersection with a relatively high number of crashes.

Two recent traffic studies focus on neighborhoods in east Elmhurst. They call for adding stop signs at 30 intersections without any stop or yield signs now.

"When placed in locations with no cited safety concerns, stop sign effectiveness depends on proper placement and warranted conditions," said Alderman Mike Baker, whose Ward 4 covers parts of the study areas. "Improperly, excessively installed stop signs can decrease safety by causing drivers to ignore them, leading to rolling stops, driver frustration and a false sense of security for pedestrians and other drivers."

At the same time, Baker said, the studies make no recommendations to improve safety at Schiller Street and Haven Road, a four-way stop behind Jewel grocery store.

It was the only intersection in the study area with more than three crashes over three years, with eight reported, he said.

Baker also said he wanted the studies to propose changes for dealing with speeding on Park Avenue in far eastern Elmhurst.

"Creative ideas to slow traffic on this well-traveled street would be helpful," he said.

Alderman Michael Bram said he agreed with many of Baker's comments. Bram's Ward 3 includes the northern part of the study area. He said he wanted the studies to examine ways to deal with cut-through and backup traffic.

The other Ward 3 alderman, Chris Jensen, said he supported the recommendations for stop signs and parking restrictions near Field Elementary School, where he said traffic jams occur.

The council voted unanimously for one of the traffic studies and 9-2 for the other, with Baker and Alderman Rex Irby dissenting. Aldermen Mike Brennan, Jennifer Veremis and Noel Talluto were absent.

The first study covered the area with Interstate 290 on the north and east, First Street on the south and York Street on the west.

The second area is bounded by Park Avenue on the north, I-290 on the east, St. Charles Road on the south and York Street on the west.

Traffic studies are planned for all Elmhurst neighborhoods.

The city has hired Rosemont-based KLOA to do neighborhood-by-neighborhood traffic studies. This is a change from its historic approach of reviewing problems at individual intersections.