‘Time for action is now’: Wheaton residents call for pedestrian traffic light on Roosevelt Road

Wheaton residents and educators implored state lawmakers to help save lives and fund a stoplight on a perilous stretch of Roosevelt Road at a hearing May 8 in Springfield.

“The time for action is now,” resident Debbie Suggs, 77, said. “Every day of inaction brings us closer to another tragedy.”

Community members, including Marian Park apartment dwellers and St. Francis High School leaders, are seeking help to pay for a traffic light at Roosevelt Road, east of County Farm Road.

From 2009 through 2023, nine pedestrian crashes occurred in the vicinity, state and city authorities said. One person was killed and eight suffered injuries.

Republican state Sen. Seth Lewis of Bartlett is sponsoring Senate Bill 2647, which seeks $1.25 million in revenue to help pay for the traffic light and related work.

“This bill is extremely important in saving lives, in saving children and preventing accidents from happening on our streets,” Lewis told members of the Appropriations Committee. “It has been approved by IDOT but they do not want to put forth the funds for the construction.”

No decisions were made May 8. Instead, the request will be considered as part of the 2025 budget.

The fact the legislation gathered enough interest for a hearing is significant, Lewis said.

“There are thousands of bills that are subject to appropriations that are never heard,” he said. “I take this as a very positive step that there’s interest.”

On the north side of Roosevelt Road, across from the school and apartments, is a popular mall with a Target, restaurants and parking spaces that some students use.

St. Francis High School President Phil Kerr said the institution has been asking for a traffic light since 1997.

A total of “1,900 cars per hour cross in front of our school. That translates to 30 cars a minute and one car every two seconds. And the most vulnerable people that are trying to cross that street are approximately 50 to 100 children from Marian Park and 700 students from our school,” Kerr said.

Also at risk are seniors living in Marian Park, advocates said.

IDOT studied the area in 2019 and concluded a pedestrian traffic light was warranted because of the crash history. However, the agency could not provide funding.

Suggs, who was almost hit by a driver several years ago, described witnessing the aftermath of crashes.

“It’s just not a pretty picture,” she said.

“The situation in our city is dire,” she said. “Every day, individuals in our community are forced to gamble with their lives simply to go about their daily routines, whether it’s commuting to work, attending school or purchasing groceries for their families.”

If the project makes it into the state budget, it could take a few years before the signal is installed. Officials want to coordinate the project with major improvements to the west at Roosevelt and County Farm roads.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20240508/transportation/is-roosevelt-crossing-close-to-state-funding-for-light-residents-implore-senators-to-fix-dire-sit/