In the wake of the Illinois Department of Transportation approving the lowering of the speed limit on La Grange Road from 30 to 25 mph, the La Grange Park Village Board moved to lower the speed limit on two additional streets.
The streets affected will be Harding Avenue from La Grange Road to Kemman Avenue and Kemman from Fairview Avenue to 31st Street. The speed limits on both will now also be 25 mph.
“If we’re going to lower the speed limit on a major thoroughfare like La Grange Road it makes sense to do this,” Trustee Joe Caputo, chair of the public safety committee, said March 10 before the vote passed unanimously. “On Harding there’s a lot of kids walking around, pedestrians walkways and people on bicycles. It is a little harder coming off that main street (La Grange Road), there’s some blind spots. A lower speed limit would enhance future safety.”
The action was consistent with village code, but that code only applies to streets owned by the village.
Since La Grange Road belongs to IDOT, the village had to get the agency’s approval to lower the speed limit on La Grange Road. IDOT initially was reluctant, but relented in November in response to the village’s “Take 5” lobbying campaign.
Other La Grange Park roads owned by IDOT include 31st Street and Ogden Avenue.
With the village looking to improve the 31st Street business corridor, a reduction in speed limit on 31st is something that could happen in the future, though Derek Rockwell, senior planner/coordinator, said there are no immediate plans to do that.
“Nothing about the speed limit is currently in the preliminary recommendations and we’re not even at the stage where we have a draft plan yet,” he said. “but that’s not to say that the community can always weigh in on that aspect of the corridor, nothing would preclude that, but it’s not currently proposed.”
One person who would be interested in seeing the speed limit on 31st lowered is police Chief Tim Contois, who is taking a proactive approach.
“There is a hope that what happened on La Grange Road can happen on 31st Street, but IDOT would have the final say on that, ” Contois said. “Similar to the reduction of the speed limit on La Grange Road, we are also in conversations with IDOT to potentially reduce the speed limit from 30 to 25 Miles per hour on 31st Street.”
Contois’ initial impression on the new speed limit on La Grange Road is positive.
“It’s definitely promoted safer driving conditions, but it’s still too early to give accurate data as far as reduction in accidents. We would really need 12 months of data for that.
“I believe with the increase in traffic enforcement that we have done, with the assistance of the IDOT Safety Grant and the lowering of the speed limit to 25, there’s definitely been a reduction in the speed of motorists.”
The next La Grange Park Village Board meeting will be 7:30 p.m. March 24, in the Village Board Room, 447 N. Catherine Ave.
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
