First, picture the road from Kuwait City to Basra, Iraq, after it was redesigned by all those U.S. fighters. Then take a ride on the Stevenson Expressway from the lakefront to the southwestern suburbs. See any
similarities?
OK. The Stevenson is in a little better shape. But then, it looks the way it does without being hit by even one smart bomb.
And the problems aren`t confined to the expressway. Check out the disgraceful condition of the Pulaski Road overpass and the sorry state of 1st Avenue as you exit the Stevenson.
If there`s any good news, it`s that the expressway is on the state road-repair list announced this month by Gov. Jim Edgar, and it will get a $280 million rehabilitation.
But work isn`t expected to begin for another five years or so, sometime after completion of the Kennedy repairs. After a journey on the pothole-riddled Stevenson, you wonder whether IDOT crews will be able to hold the road together for that long.
Moreover, the Stevenson reconstruction is expected to stretch only from the Dan Ryan Expressway to Western Avenue. But nasty pavement extends far west of Western, to Central Avenue and beyond.
Motorists who use Pulaski can only hope that the overpass winds up on somebody`s road-repair list.
There`s one pothole so deep that steel reinforcing bars buried in the pavement have become exposed. Several huge steel plates are set in the northbound and southbound lanes, apparently serving as makeshift patches to giant holes.
Guardrails on the overpass are rusting, and the concrete median is crumbling. So are the curbs, exposing more of those reinforcing bars, which stick out toward traffic.
And if you`re unlucky enough to be a pedestrian walking on the sidewalk of the trash-strewn overpass, beware. On the east side of the street, there`s a hole about 18 inches wide and 6 inches across through which you can see clear down to the ground, about 40 feet below.
For a look at decaying suburban infrastructure in the Stevenson corridor, get off the expressway at 1st Avenue in the Summit-McCook area. Within about a mile on either side of the Stevenson, you`ll find several aggravating stretches of pavement peppered with potholes.
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Motorists traveling through the construction zone on the Tri-State Tollway don`t have a whole lot of leeway when it comes to speed.
Signs posted since work began a few months ago proclaim that 45 m.p.h. is the limit. But signs remaining from preconstruction days say ”45 minimum speed.”
Does this mean you get a ticket if you go 44 or 46?
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The crews that were supposed to blot out the old white lines on the Kennedy Expressway and paint new ones to mark construction-zone lane reconfigurations need to return to the Fullerton entrance ramp on the northbound side. And they should bring some black paint.
The old white line on the entrance ramp remains visible enough to confuse motorists trying to make it safely into the flow of Kennedy traffic at a spot where, even with clear markings, merging these days can be a tricky business. – – –
Has anybody given Metra credit for its marketing savvy?
Motorists creeping along the ripped-up Kennedy and other portions of an expressway system plagued by rush-hour creep find themselves looking at signs above the road that suggest a less frustrating way to go.
One version shows a speedy Metra locomotive and bears the message, ”For quick relief from congestion.”
Another simply asks, ”Haven`t you crawled long enough?”
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Pedestrians have come to depend on those electronic walk-don`t walk signs at downtown intersections, where it`s decidedly unhealthy to get caught in the middle of the street when the light changes.
But somebody`s fallen down on the job at Jackson Boulevard and Canal Street, just south of Union Station.
Two signs at the intersection are missing and two others aren`t working.
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If you`ve driven through the western suburbs, maybe you`ve come across the intersection of Madison Street and Mobil in Forest Park.
Madison is a major east-west street through the village. We were just kidding about Mobil.
In truth, a big gas station sign sits directly in front of a smaller street sign above the intersection that is supposed to let you know you`ve come to Des Plaines Avenue.
You would think the village would order the service station to move its sign or pay to have the ”Des Plaines” placard moved a few feet so motorists could see it.
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For reasons that don`t appear to make much sense, motorists heading east on Touhy Avenue in Lincolnwood are suffering needless delays when they hit the light at Lincoln Avenue.
To make a long story short, people who want to turn right from Touhy onto southbound Lincoln have to sit for nearly a minute for no apparent reason.
This is a no-turn-on red intersection, but installation of a simple right-turn arrow would allow them to proceed without causing conflict with other vehicles.
Cars from northbound Lincoln turn left onto Touhy when they get an arrow, but the drivers who want to turn right onto Lincoln have to sit through this irritating signal sequence.
Getting around the south suburbs: Oak Lawn Pace driver Lore Koch likes driving so much that she got behind the wheel and drove a motor home from Hungary to Switzerland on her vacation. Koch, the mother of four grown children and a Pace employee for 15 years, said she`s now trying to learn how to fly.
But Koch descended to Earth recently to attend a Pace banquet, where she received a National Safety Council Million Mile Award.
That means while driving Pace buses Koch has logged at least a million miles without a preventable accident.
Other drivers in the south suburbs who received million-mile plaques included Oak Lawn division operators William Schillicutt, Agnes Stewart and Patrick Quinn; Robert Bryce, who pilots buses in the Joliet region; and Earl Henderson from the Markham garage.
Markham drivers John Casson and Paul Schade, each with more than 30 years behind the wheel, were given special places of honor at the awards dinner. They have reached the 2 million mile safety mark.
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There`s relief in sight for motorists used to the bumping and grinding from the Calumet Expressway east to Glenwood-Dyer Road. The state has allocated nearly $2 million for resurfacing the 2.25-mile stretch and for bridge rehabilitation and interchange construction at U.S. Highway 30.
State Sen. Aldo DeAngelis (R-Olympia Fields) said this and seven other projects in his district account for $5.5 million in state road expenditures. The other south suburban allocations include $551,000 for 4.75 miles of resurfacing from northbound Burrville Road to Dixie Highway, $239,000 for nearly a mile of resurfacing from the Tri-State Tollway south along heavily traveled Halsted Street to Ridge Road, $1.6 million for ramp repair and other improvements at the northbound weight station at Peotone, $356,000 for land acquisition and planning for Phase II of a project from Ridgeland Avenue to Central Avenue, $750,000 for a quarter-mile of new construction to extend Tamarack Street in Park Forest, and $289,000 for three miles of resurfacing of Thornton-Lansing Road from Williams Street to Torrence Avenue along Cook County Forest Preserve land between Thornton and Lansing.
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Getting Around Du Page: Anyone who has been frustrated by an untimely red light aftermotoring through a series of greens will rejoice at a recent announcement by Du Page County Board Chairman Aldo Botti and board member Carl Roth.
The county took a giant step forward in realizing a longstanding goal when it reached an agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation and the federal government to computerize traffic signals throughout the county.
The plan, called Intelligent Traffic Signal System, would coordinate traffic lights on major county and state roads to ensure the timeliness of those elusive green lights. The idea first was advanced by former County Board Chairman Jack Knuepfer.
This, of course, promises to improve traffic flows, reduce congestion, cut emissions, and lower blood pressures.
Roth, chairman of the County Board`s Transportation Committee, said $185,000 will be spent this year to study and develop the system.
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Speaking of traffic lights, motorists who frequent the intersections of Devon and Prospect Avenues in Bartlett and Hobson Road and Naper Boulevard in Naperville will be happy to know the county plans to spend $200,000 this spring to upgrade signalization. The county`s Division of Transportation is soliciting bids for the two projects.
In Bartlett, the county will add lights to the T-intersection where only a two-way stop sign controls traffic, said Chuck Tokarski, chief of traffic planning. The high number of accidents at Devon and Prospect justifies the change, he said.
In Naperville, permanent lights, complete with left-turn arrows, will replace the temporary signals that have controlled the flow of vehicles at Hobson and Naper since the early 1980s.
The projects are expected to be completed by the end of the summer, Tokarski said.
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Beginning Monday, PACE is rescheduling the last northbound departure of Route 802 from the Aurora Transportation Center.
The last bus on weekdays and Saturdays will depart for St. Charles at 5:35 p.m. instead of 5:19 p.m.
Additionally, several minutes will be added to the schedule throughout the day to compensate for increased congestion through St. Charles and near the Illinois Highway 38 bridge project in Geneva.
Getting Around the northwest suburbs: A public hearing on proposed improvements to Willow/Palatine Road from the Northwest Highway to the Edens Expressway is scheduled for 2 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Ramada Inn, 2875 N. Milwaukee Ave., Northbrook.
A consultant for the Illinois Department of Transportation has proposed a series of costly and somewhat controversial changes, from widening Willow to four lanes from two in Northfield to turning Palatine Road on the west into a full-fledged expressway.
Those who cannot attend the public hearing can send written comments to Duane Carlson, district engineer, Illinois Department of Transportation, 201 West Center Ct., Schaumburg, Ill. 60196-1096.
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As Des Plaines` street-resurfacing project gets under way, the city is asking disabled people and others with special needs who require access to their homes and driveways at all times to contact civil engineer Tamara Temkin at 708-391-5388.
Streets to be repaired in May are Madelyn Drive between Mark Avenue and Timothy Lane, Cambridge Road from Wisconsin Drive to Northwest Highway, Dara James Road from Kathleen Drive to Dulles Road, Clark Lane from Dempster/
Thacker Street to Algonquin Road, Cordial Drive from Joyce Drive to Marshall Drive, Windsor Drive from Pennsylvania Avenue to Jeffrey Lane, and Jeffrey Lane from Windsor Drive to Roxbury Lane.
Got a commuting question? See a problem on the area`s roads, trains or buses? Getting around will address topics of general interest. Write to Getting around, c/o Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611.
