Temporary closure set on Montgomery’s Mayfield Drive

Village board approves ordinance in response to homeowner complaints about cut-through traffic, speeders

The Montgomery Village Board voted unanimously Monday evening, June 14, to approve an ordinance authorizing the temporary closure of Mayfield Drive to through traffic beginning this summer.

Mayfield Drive, which links Orchard Road and Concord Drive in the Montgomery Crossing subdivision on the village’s west side, will be closed just north of its northern intersection with Roxbury Lane.

The two lane road will be closed to all motor vehicles with the exception of emergency vehicles, school buses, Postal Service vehicles, and garbage and recycling trucks.

According to information provided by Jeff Zoephel, village administrator, the temporary closure will likely begin in early July after contractors for the village finish resurfacing the street.

Zoephel said digital message board signs will be installed along the road two weeks prior to the temporary closure to alert motorists to the pending shut down of the road to through traffic.

The temporary closure will be in effect until “such time as the village board authorizes a permanent closure of (the road) or otherwise determines that such temporary closure is no longer in the best interest of the village and its residents,” the ordinance reads.

The board voted to approve the temporary closure in an effort to see if it will slow motorists and reduce the number of vehicles using the street as a shortcut between Orchard and Galena roads.

The Mayfield Drive traffic situation has been a continuing concern for some subdivision residents and village officials since Montgomery Crossing was developed in the early 2000s. The village’s police department and engineering firm have conducted four separate speed and traffic volume studies on the road dating back to 2008 in response to residents’ complaints.

During a May 24 board meeting, Peter Wallers, president of Engineering Enterprises, Inc., the village’s engineering consultants, told the board that signs will be posted along Mayfield Drive near Concord Drive and along the northern portion of Mayfield Drive near the retail area just west of Orchard Road to inform motorists that the street is closed to through traffic.

Village officials have said that many area residents use Mayfield Drive as a shortcut to reach the Aldi and other retail stores along the west side of Orchard Road. By using Mayfield Drive, motorists can stay off busy sections of nearby Galena and Orchard roads.

In May, EEI completed a survey of Montgomery Crossing residents to determine which course of action, if any, the village should take to slow and/or reduce traffic on Mayfield Drive.

Wallers told board members May 24 that the survey, which was mailed to every household in the Montgomery Crossing subdivision and posted for subdivision residents on the village’s website, produced a response rate of about 45%.

Of those homeowners who did respond to the survey, the vast majority favored closing the street to through traffic over other potential options that included the installation of speed bumps and “chokers” (enlarged parkways) at strategic locations along the street. Doing nothing also was among the options in the survey.