With the two-lane Ridge Road seeing 15,500 vehicles a day, Kendall County Highway Department officials say the road already needs improvements to keep up with the amount of traffic.

That is only expected to get worse by 2050, when the road is expected to see 26,800 vehicles per day. There are approximately 38 accidents per year on Ridge Road in the approximately five-mile stretch from Caton Farm Road to Plainfield Road, the highway department said.

Shorewood-based Hutchison Engineering, Inc. has begun a study looking at ways to improve capacity and abate safety concerns.

As part of the study, the first public information meeting was held on May 20 at Plainfield South High School, which is at the intersection of Ridge Road and Caton Farm Road.

Last year, the Kendall County Board approved a preliminary engineering agreement with Hutchison Engineering for the project.

Resident Elisa Terrazas, who lives in Deer Crossing subdivision along Ridge Road, voiced concerns about the road being widened.

“My backyard borders Ridge Road,” she said. “’So I’m very unhappy about the street widening because I don’t want it any closer to me.”

Terrazas moved to the area two years ago. In that time, she has seen more people speeding and more accidents on the road.

“It’s really very dangerous,” she said. “They need to put some stoplights from Caton Farm Road to 127th Street or something.”

Joseph Wick Jr. of Hutchison Engineering said the purpose of the meeting was to gather public input for the study.

“We’re just starting to look at the corridor and soliciting local input on issues and what problems may be occurring within the corridor and what they would like to see in the corridor and beginning that process to work towards a design,” he said. “There’s been a lot of growth around here and more to come.”

The next public meeting on the project is set for early/mid 2027.

Francis Klaas, county engineer for the Kendall County Highway Department, said the county wants to create awareness.

“We want to make people aware that we’re studying the corridor, that we need to increase capacity and safety,” he said. “We’ve had some issues with crashes.”

There are also plans to expand Ridge Road from Holt Road to Black Road. The project would increase that stretch of Ridge Road from two lanes to four lanes.