Submitted By
Ron Burke, Transportation Commission Chairperson Bill McKenna, Village Engineer/Assistant Public Works Director
Reviewed By
A.M. Zayyad, Deputy Village Manager
Agenda Item Title
Title
A Motion to Concur with the Transportation Commission’s Recommendations for Traffic Calming on the 500 and 600 blocks of South Grove Avenue
End
Overview
Overview
At the August 12, 2024 and September 9, 2024 Transportation Commission (TC) meetings, the TC reviewed a traffic calming petition for the 500 and 600 blocks of South Grove Avenue. The TC recommended installing “Cross Traffic Does Not Stop” signs at Grove/Adams (east leg) and at Grove/Monroe, repainting the crosswalk pavement markings, deploying temporary radar speed feedback signs on an interim basis, a paint and post pinch point on Grove at the alley south of Madison Street, and a paint and post bump-out at the northeast corner of Grove and Adams. Staff does not support the Commission’s recommendation to install the paint and post bump-out at Adams. Pending Village Board concurrence, staff would include this work as part of the upcoming Resurfacing of Various Streets project.
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Recommendation
Recommendation
Staff supports the TC’s recommendations except the paint and post bump out at Adams.
Background
On July 7, 2022, the Village of Oak Park received a petition to implement traffic calming measures on the 500 & 600 blocks of South Grove Avenue. The residents expressed concerns regarding excessive speeds, cut-through traffic across South Grove between Monroe Street and the east leg of Adams Street, and disregard for the stop signs at the Grove/Adams (east leg) intersection. The residents requested all-way stop signs at South Grove Avenue at Monroe Street. Signatures representing 51% of the street frontage were collected for the petition. The petition was certified as valid.
See Attachment A, for a copy of the letter of explanation. No written public testimony was received by the Village for these petitions. See Attachment B for the aerial imagery of the area.
The petitions were reviewed by the Transportation Commission at its August 12, 2024 meeting. Staff gave a presentation on the issues including: background on the petition, history of the area, analysis of the collected traffic data, collision diagrams, and recommendations. Residents provided public testimony on the items. After hearing staff’s presentation and public testimony, the Transportation Commission deliberated on the items. Relevant pages from the Transportation Commission meeting minutes are included as Attachment H.
Staff recommended installing “Cross Traffic Does Not Stop” signs at Grove/Adams (east leg) and at Grove/Monroe, repainting the crosswalk pavement markings, and deploying temporary radar speed feedback signs on an interim basis. The TC additionally recommended a paint and post bump-out at the northeast corner of South Grove Avenue and Adams Street and a paint and post pinch point on S Grove Avenue at the alley south of Madison Street. Staff was directed to prepare conceptual plans to illustrate the proposed designs at these locations and present them at a subsequent Transportation Commission meeting.
At the September 9, 2024 TC meeting, the staff presented the conceptual plans as directed. At the September 9 meeting, the Transportation Commission voted five to zero to:
• Install paint and post pinch point on South Grove Avenue at the alley south of Madison Street (Attachment F)
• Install paint and post bump-out on the northeast corner of South Grove Avenue and Adams Street (Attachment F)
• Deploy temporary speed radar feedback signs on an interim basis
• Install “Cross Traffic Does Not Stop” signs at Grove/Adams (east Leg) and Grove/Monroe (Attachment G)
• Repaint the crosswalk pavement markings
Staff does not support the Transportation Commission’s recommendation to install a bump out at the northeast corner of Grove and Adams since there were no issues to address at this corner based on the traffic and crash data, Adams traffic already has a stop sign, and the bump out forces larger vehicles to swerve around the bump out into the oncoming traffic lane for southbound Grove which does not have a stop sign.
Pending Village Board approval, pavement markings and flexible delineators will be installed as part of the 24-2 Resurfacing of Various Streets project as a change order. Public Works staff would install the temporary speed feedback signage.
Analysis Section
Traffic Study - Volume and Speed (Attachment C)
Twenty-four-hour traffic data was also collected along the 500 & 600 blocks of South Grove Avenue, Adams Street, and Monroe Street over a 48-hour period. The data was collected on Wednesday and Thursday, October 19 and 20, 2022. ADT volumes on many Oak Park residential streets range between 800 and 1,200 vehicles per day. Volumes along South Grove Avenue (350-500 vehicles per day) are lower compared to this range, indicating that there is likely not a significant amount of cut-through or non-local traffic along South Grove Avenue. At about 340 and 195 vehicles per day respectively, Adams Street (east of South Grove Avenue) and Monroe Street also carry very low traffic volumes.
Speed data was another component of the mid-block data collection effort. A review of the 500 & 600 blocks of South Grove Avenue speed data shows a higher than 70% compliance rate with the 25-mph speed limit and that more than 90% of the vehicles are traveling less than 5 mph over the speed limit. Speeds on Adams Street and Monroe Street are even lower. The 85th percentile speeds on these streets are 24 mph and 21 mph respectively with a greater than 85% compliance with the 25-mph speed limit.
Traffic Study - Turning Movement Counts (Attachment D)
Turning movement data was collected at the Adams Street (east leg)/South Grove Avenue and Monroe Street/South Grove Avenue intersections, six-hour counts were conducted on Wednesday, October 19, 2022 using a video camera system. Bicycle and pedestrian data were gathered in addition to the vehicular turning movement volumes. The traffic data was collected on a weekday with typical traffic patterns while school was in session. The traffic count data shows that the morning peak hour occurs between 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and the evening traffic volume is highest between 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. See Attachment D for a summary of the results.
Crash History - Collision Diagrams (Attachment E)
In order to evaluate safety trends on the 500 & 600 block of South Grove Avenue, reported crash data was obtained from the IDOT Safety Portal and the Village of Oak Park from March 2019 through March 2024, a five-year period. This data shows that there were three mid-block collisions along the 500 block of South Grove Avenue and no mid-block collisions along the 600 block of South Grove Avenue during the five-year period. Two of the crashes north of Monroe Street involved southbound vehicles striking parked cars.
Crashes at the adjacent intersections were also assessed. There were no crashes reported at South Grove Avenue/Adams Street (east leg) and South Grove Avenue/Monroe Street.
The number of reported crashes that occurred over a five-year period at South Grove Avenue and Adams Street (east leg) is zero. The Average Daily Traffic (ADT) entering the intersection of South Grove Avenue/Adams Street as determined by the Village’s 1997 area-wide traffic study was 1,455 vehicles. Using this data, the crash rate for the S Grove Avenue/Adams Street intersection is zero accidents per million entering vehicles (Acc/MEV). This crash rate is below the critical crash rate calculated for the south middle section of the Village (from South Boulevard to I-290 Expressway between Harlem Avenue and Austin Boulevard) as determined in the area-wide traffic study of 1997 (1.029 Acc/MEV).
The number of reported crashes that occurred over a five-year period at South Grove Avenue and Monroe Street is zero. The Average Daily Traffic (ADT) entering the intersection of S Grove Avenue/Monroe Street as determined by the Village’s 1997 area-wide traffic study was 1,148 vehicles. Using this data, the crash rate for the South Grove Avenue/Monroe Street intersection is zero accidents per million entering vehicles (Acc/MEV). This crash rate is below the critical crash rate calculated for the south middle section of the Village (from South Boulevard to I-290 Expressway between Harlem Avenue and Austin Boulevard) as determined in the area-wide traffic study of 1997 (1.029 Acc/MEV).
Fiscal Impact
Staff estimates that it will cost approximately $4,000 to install the staff recommendation of a paint and post pinch point south of Madison. Staff estimates that it will cost approximately $1,500 to install the Transportation Commission’s recommendation for paint and post bump out at Adams.
Pending Village Board approval, staff will include this work as part of the current 24-2 Resurfacing of Various Streets project. Should this additional work require amending the existing contract amount beyond the Village Manager’s spending authority, staff will present an item at an upcoming Village Board meeting for a change order to the 24-2 Resurfacing of Various Streets project. There are available funds in the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget in the Capital Improvement Fund (CIP), Public Works - Engineering, Traffic Calming Improvements, account no. 3095-43780-101-570955 to fund these improvements.
DEI Impact
N/A
Alternatives
Staff does not support the Transportation Commission’s recommendation to install a bump out at the northeast corner of Grove and Adams since there were no issues to address at this corner based on the traffic and crash data, Adams traffic already has a stop sign, and the bump out forces larger vehicles to swerve around the bump out into the oncoming traffic lane for southbound Grove which does not have a stop sign.
Previous Board Action
N/A
Citizen Advisory Commission Action
At the September 9, 2024 Transportation Commission (TC) meeting, the TC recommended to install a paint and post pinch point on S Grove Avenue at the alley south of Madison Street, install a paint and post bump-out at the northeast corner of S Grove Avenue and Adams Street, deploy temporary speed radar feedback signs on an interim basis, installing “Cross Traffic Does Not Stop” signs at Grove/Adams (east Leg) and Grove/Monroe, and repaint the crosswalk pavement markings.
Anticipated Future Actions/Commitments
Pending Village Board approval, staff will include this work as part of the current 24-2 Resurfacing of Various Streets project. Should this additional work require amending the existing contract amount beyond the Village Manager’s spending authority, staff will present an item at an upcoming Village Board meeting for a change order to the 24-2 Resurfacing of Various Streets project.
Intergovernmental Cooperation Opportunities
N/A