Dangerous Black Road Crosswalk Needs Action: YMCA Worker

JOLIET — Joliet resident Greg Piskur addressed the Joliet City Council at Tuesday night's meeting, urging his elected officials to take action by addressing one of Joliet's most dangerous areas for pedestrians and bicyclists — the Black Road crosswalk.

Piskur urged officials to take measures such as installing a light that requires motorists to immediately stop their vehicles to allow the pedestrians and bicyclists to pass safely from one side of Black Road to the other.

The west side crossing connects to the Will County Forest Preserve's Rock Run Preserve, Black Road Trail Access.

"I am an avid walker of the forest preserve paths in Will County," Piskur opened his remarks during the public comment section of the Joliet City Council meeting. "I'd like to tell a story about the Rock Run Preserve that I had, last year, on October 20, 2023. I use that path to walk to work. I work at the Joliet YMCA on Houbolt Road. I walk that path a couple times a week.

"That day, was an ordinary day for me. I came up to the pedestrian crossing that's at Black Road that is just west of the library, just before the I-55 overpass ... Cars stopped for me to cross the road. On the westbound lane, cars stopped. There was a green car in the eastbound lane that stopped for me and I proceeded to walk across the street," Piskur recalled.

"At that time, I didn't know that that black car was going to rear end the green car, and that green car hit me as I crossed that walk," Piskur shared with the City Council. "I don't know what happened. All I heard was this loud bang and next thing I know, I am laying on my right side on the curb, trying to catch my breath. I couldn't breathe at the time."

Piskur said that another motorist stopped to render aid to Piskur.

"So, taken to the hospital. No major problems except for we found out that I had a torn rotator cuff a few weeks later and in December I had surgery for that," he remarked.

During the next several months, Piskur said he took the time to do a little more walking and more exploring of the Will County Forest Preserves.

At the Lake Renwick Forest Preserve along Airport Road in Plainfield, Piskur said, "And I saw this. I call it a pedestrian light, crossing light. And I started thinking to myself, why can't the forest preserve put something like that there because Black Road is a very busy road, day and night."

Piskur told the City Council that in May, he attended a Will County Forest Preserve Board meeting "and shared my story with them. They said that there was really nothing that they could do as a forest preserve because that crosses a city street. And they said that I would probably be best off if I called the city of Joliet."

Piskur said he called the city of Joliet and left a few messages, but then found himself busy with his summer camps that he oversees at the YMCA. Then, just a couple weeks ago, Piskur was driving along Black Road when he noticed the "Stop Here For Pedestrians" sign has been removed.

"So now there is very little signage for motorists to know that there is a crosswalk there," Piskur explained. "I made a few phone calls with the city. They didn't really get anywhere. And then I called my Councilman, Mr. (Pat) Mudron, and left a message for him and I called Councilwoman (Jan) Quillman and actually talked to her for like 20 minutes and said, 'What was going on? Why was that sign removed?'"

Mudron returned his phone call and they talked for another 20 minutes "about the situation. And he knows about that crosswalk and how dangerous it can be. And he said the reason why the sign was removed because it was a false sense of security for pedestrians. If one car stops, they all stop, which I know that doesn't happen."

In closing, Piskur asked the City Council to look at putting "some type of pedestrian light there. Or, at any other busy crossings to help people. I've never heard of anybody getting into an accident there or losing a life, but I would hate to see that happen now. It's something that I'm passionate about. I still go cross there two or three times a week as I go to work. And I've noticed that people do stop and some people don't stop. I'm just asking the city to look into it to see what we can do to make safer for everybody that's out there."

After Piskur finished making his remarks, Councilwoman Sherri Reardon spoke up.

"We've had numerous conversations about that crosswalk and exactly what Mr. Mudron said was this false sense of security for the pedestrians ... It was so dangerous," Reardon told everyone. "We've talked about the possibility of putting in an intersection, like on Jefferson Street, it's like by the Walmart, I think it's Joyce Road there, where there's a halfway point. We've talked about numerous things. We really have been trying to get something done about that situation."

After Reardon finished her comments, Piskur urged Reardon not to pursue the idea of replicating what the city has on Jefferson Street.

He prefers a pedestrian crossing light at Black Road.

"I think a light would be something that motorists could see visually, other than a sign with a bicycle on it, that's three feet away from the crosswalk," Piskur suggested.