River Forest officials took a step toward a more permanent solution to prevent drivers from speeding on Washington Boulevard in the village, approving a resolution at the Sept. 9 Village Board meeting to commit the village’s share of funding for the project in conjunction with applying for a state grant.
Jack Bielak, director of public works and engineering, told officials at the Sept. 9 meeting that speeding on Washington was one of the main concerns of the recently completed village-wide traffic study. He said the study, completed in 2023, confirmed incidents of speeding with drivers going an average of 13 miles per hour over the posted 25 mile-per-hour speed limit, and even faster during rush hour.
In February, officials accepted a recommendation from the traffic and safety commission to install bollards at eight Washington Boulevard intersections, which supported a similar recommendation to address speeding drivers from the Thomas Engineering Group, a civil engineering company with offices in Oak Park, which conducted the traffic study.
“We want to slow traffic down,” Bielak said. “The bollards were a temporary solution.”
In a memo to Matt Walsh, village administrator, Bielak and Seth Jansen, management analyst, explained that the resolution states the village would commit to fund the required local match and all ineligible costs for the project as required when submitting for Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program grant funding.
The estimated cost of the project is $1,785,906.15 including Phase 1 and 2 engineering along with construction and construction engineering. The grant would cover 80 percent of that cost or $1,154,960.44, leaving the village share at 20 percent or $288,740.36. The village would also be responsible for paying all ineligible costs, primarily for resurfacing the street, at a cost estimated to be $342,205.35.
“It makes sense to resurface the street at the same time,” Walsh said.
Bielak said the village would be able to use motor fuel tax funds for the ineligible costs and noted funding for the project has been included in the capital improvement project budget.
In the memo, Bielak and Jansen said the project includes a road diet, bumpouts, Americans With Disability Act improvements and various other traffic calming measures that contribute to bicycle and pedestrian safety. The Washington corridor improvements would provide a connection point to three local parks along the route as well as to the proposed extension of the Des Plaines River Trail. The River Forest section of the trail will mainly run along Thatcher Avenue between North Avenue and Madison Street with a smaller section running along Madison between Thatcher and Van Buren Street, where it will connect with a proposed biking/walking path in Forest Park.
ITEP funds projects through a bi-annual competitive cycle with the application submittal period opening in late summer every even numbered calendar year, they said. The application submittal began Aug. 1 and will close Sept. 30.
Scheduling the project will depend on receiving the grant funding.