More signage to be added to high-speed area

By Rumasa Noor

Correspondent

After a discussion with the water, wastewater, stormwater, streets and parks commission in Union Grove, Martha Sheahan was able to convince the authorities to place traffic signs between Cardinal Lane and Pheasant Run at the meeting of August 17.

Sheahan brought forward the issue to the Police Commission a year ago and proposed placing traffic signs near 11th Avenue, but left unsatisfied.

She went to the Police Commission July 28 and was asked to bring the issue up to the streets commission.

The mother of four lives in a residential area with several young children and has been concerned about the speeding drivers, who go above 35 miles per hour despite a 25 mph speed limit in the area.

“The biggest reason why we are asking for more street signs is because in the 11-house span between Cardinal Lane and Pheasant Run there are 22 kids. That’s a lot of kids within 11 houses,” Sheahan said.

The majority of those kids are under the ages of 12 who are still learning about road safety, Sheahan said. Some of those kids have the tendency to run toward roads as well, she said.

A few weeks ago, when Sheahan’s kids were in the driveway, she heard a loud noise of a vehicle skidding, driven by inattentive driver, in front of her house.

      “It could have been one of my kids hit,” she said. “They (driver) didn’t pay attention. It’s scary especially when something like that happens right in front of us. We have got to get the speeding under control there.”

Currently, there is one sign near the intersection of 67th Drive and 11th Ave. heading west, but there is a need for more, Sheahan said.

“It would be nice to see another speed limit sign somewhere else on the road,” she said.

Upon Sheahan’s request at the Police Commission meeting of July 28, the presence of police officers was increased in the area.

Sheahan said their presence and the placement of speed boxes have controlled the speeding, but it’s not a permanent solution.

“They can’t leave a police officer there all the time, they can’t leave a speed box all the time so I don’t see if that’s going to be a forever thing for us,” Sheahan said.

Adding additional signs may not be a forever fix but it might be something to start with, she said.

“The problem with having a stop sign at a three-leg intersection is it’s a substandard way to do it,” village board member Chris Gallagher said. “The traffic that’s on the through leg runs the stop sign and hits those vehicles which is why they (federal standards) typically don’t like to see three-leg intersections.”

He said the right way to do it is to enforce the existing speed limit.

At the end of the meeting, commission members and Sheahan were able to reach a common ground. The commission approved to order four additional traffic signs, including two speed limit signs as well as children’s signs between Cardinal Lane and Pheasant Run.