To reduce crashes at McHenry intersection, city will block turn lanes, through lane

McHenry residents in the Legend Lakes and Boone Creek subdivisions will soon need to adapt to the removal of turn lanes into their subdivision in an effort to reduce crashes.

Following a discussion Monday by the McHenry City Council, Mayor Wayne Jett directed Public Works Director Russ Adams to use pavement striping to block off right turn lanes from Curran Road onto Dartmoor Drive, and the center through lane on Dartmoor Drive’s eastbound side.

“Striping away the right turn lanes is a more pragmatic approach to see if it helps,” Adams said. After several months as interim public works director, Adams was officially named as head of the department earlier in the meeting.

In March, the City Council directed Adams to look at options for the intersection after seven crashes were reported there in a three-year period, including a child hit by a car while riding a bike.

According to city staff, drivers crossing Curran often do not see cars in the through lane when there is a car in the turn lane, leading them to pull into oncoming traffic.

Adams’ report this week included options such as a traffic light, re-striping, removing the turn lanes altogether, a four-way stop and a new, overhead flashing beacon for pedestrians.

Re-striping the road was estimated to cost about $8,000, as opposed to $500,000 for a traffic light, $300,000 to have construction crews remove the lanes, $150,000 for overhead pedestrian flashing beacons, and $12,000 to re-stripe with a four-way stop.

With the new striping plan, right turns from Curran to Dartmoor will still be allowed. There just won’t be a designated right-turn lane. Drivers on eastbound Dartmoor wanting to cross Curran can use the left-turn lane, which, with the new striping, will also be for through traffic.

When the intersection was built 20 years ago, plans were for a western bypass around McHenry, routing traffic from Route 31, onto Bull Valley Road to Curran, then to Route 120 near Ringwood Road. That plan was scuttled by Illinois Department of Transportation officials, according to McHenry city staff.

It is a plan Alderman Andy Glab, 2nd Ward, would like to see come back.

“I hope someday to see that connection,” Glab said, adding that he’d prefer the traffic light option, even if IDOT does not believe the intersection will ever warrant a light.

“A stoplight is the most sensible way to go,” Glab said.

First Ward Alderwoman Bobbi Baehne disagreed, saying: “A light makes no sense now. We have a lot of other expensive bills to pay. ... It is not a financially responsible idea.”

Jett noted that he’s asked residents to weigh in via social media, where many preferred the stoplight option, but a half-million for the light it too much for him.

“It is a step we may have to do down the road,” Jett said.

McHenry has seen housing proposals in the vicinity, including a pitch by builder Lennar for 584 single family homes on 304 acres at Bull Valley and Curran roads, and two developments proposed for the northeast corner of Bull Valley and Crystal Lake roads.

Jett also noted that while striping should suffice for now, the city might also put in traffic delineator poles in at a later date to help block off the lanes.

“Half of them will be broke in a month or less,” Jett said.