By creating an optical illusion on street pavement, Chicago traffic engineers think they have found a partial fix to the problem of persuading motorists to slow down at a hot spot for auto accidents on Lake Shore Drive.
Part of the trick to changing driver behavior along the sharp curve on Lake Shore near Oak Street calls for installing a very busy-looking pavement-striping pattern this summer, said Cheri Heramb, the city’s acting transportation commissioner.
The markings, which feature a series of white bars spaced 16 feet apart initially and converging to 8 feet apart, are intended to give drivers the impression they are increasing their speed as they go into the curve.
As an added early warning, drivers also will encounter 8-foot-long pavement markings that say “SLOW 25 M.P.H.,” as well as new flashing beacons and warning signs posted over the roadway in each direction, the Chicago Department of Transportation said. Those improvements also will be added this summer.
“This is the first time it has been tried in the Chicago area, and we hope it grabs drivers’ attention and makes them slow down,” Heramb said.
She added that the city began a more aggressive search for answers after a Getting Around column in the Tribune in February. It profiled a Streeterville resident who maintains a computer spreadsheet of accidents he witnesses to prove his point that the city is not doing enough.
Heramb said the optical-bar system has been used successfully in New York, Texas and several other states. If it works here, the technique may be extended to other high-accident locations in the city, she said.
She said the new pavement markings represent a low-cost, short-term solution.
For the long term, the Transportation Department has set aside $1.4 million for a two-year study that could result in a redesign of the Oak Street curve and improvements in accessing the lakefront. The city, responsible for maintaining Lake Shore, is consulting with the Illinois Department of Transportation, which oversees major improvements to the road.
