Unofficial Detours Impact La Grange Residents

LA GRANGE, IL – Last fall, the state urged drivers to take alternate routes after it started its project at 47th Street and East Avenue in La Grange.

Those routes apparently include La Grange's residential neighborhoods.

Eastside residents have reported heavy truck traffic and speeding drivers near their homes.

At Monday's Village Board meeting, Wilson Penn, who lives in the 500 block of 10th Avenue, said residents continue to see semitrucks on their streets.

"In addition to that, routinely speeding cars," Penn said. "Folks are detouring through our neighborhood between a park and a school."

After residents complained about the problem in November, the police presence increased for a time, he said. He said an officer told him the police had written 80 tickets on 10th Avenue alone. Then the police stopped their patrols, he said. (Later, the village told Patch that a patrol of the neighborhood from Nov. 13 to Dec. 5 resulted in 30 traffic tickets.)

Meanwhile, Penn said he has continually contacted the state, the village and the county.

"There is a lot of finger-pointing going on in terms of who ultimately has the say in this decision," Penn said. "It's not fun to continue to be a nuisance. I haven't been able to get a straight answer: Is the village still advocating to stop traffic at Plainfield (Road), and if so, who's the best authority to direct those concerns to?"

In response, Village Manager Jack Knight said Plainfield Road is county jurisdiction.

"We have a meeting planned for this week to discuss some of the matters there, so I appreciate your commentary," Knight said. "That'll be helpful in that meeting to address these concerns."

Village President Mark Kuchler said that if there was a way to stop traffic, the village would continue to advocate for it.

Another resident, John Pluto, who lives in the 700 block of East Avenue, also said police officers are no longer in the neighborhood.

"We've got two months into this thing, and we're no further than where we were when we started," he said. "The cars are flying down the street at 40 mph."

According to the state, a traffic light is coming to 47th and East as part of an $18 million project to improve the intersection.