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CORRECTS |
Citizens Organized for
Reasonable Routes Enhancing
Community Traffic & Safety
non- non-partisan, nonprofit, member-supported public interest organization that promotes Traffic and Safety issues by influencing public policy decisions: legislative, administrative, legal, and electoral. A community organization dedicated to providing a central place to review Park Ridge Traffic and Safety issues with its citizens and their elected Representatives and City's management. To practice and promote the responsible use of our roads, traffic systems and resources. To educate and enlist citizens to protect and restore the quality of our auto and pedestrian traffic as one of our cherished human environments in Park Ridge. CORRECTS - Citizens Organized for Reasonable Routes Enhancing Community Traffic & Safety believes that citizen's pedestrian safety, auto safety and reasonable routes comes first in city traffic. That before adding a traffic signal or traffic signals which generates slow traffic, bumper-to-bumper traffic, traffic gridlock, traffic complaints, traffic crashes, traffic signs, traffic bottleneck, automobile traffic, traffic congestion, rush hour traffic, bumper to bumper traffic, traffic congestion, rush hour traffic and automobile traffic, that a Park Ridge Alderman and/or Park Ridge Aldermen, should require a traffic study to avoid this auto traffic scenario in Park Ridge, Illinois. Only reasonable auto traffic should be permitted to provide reasonable routes with traffic safety and avoid traffic accidents, traffic injuries, pedestrian injuries, auto accidents, traffic problems, which will also decrease pedestrian traffic in Park Ridge and thus negatively affect retail sales and our quality of life. We encourage Park Ridge citizens to register and for all voters to vote only for a Park Ridge Alderman / Park Ridge Aldermen Park Ridge Mayor that promises to ensure Reasonable Routes and City Traffic Safety. Today’s Park Ridge City Policy of waiting for citizens to first be injured, maimed and dead, while creating a serious crisis of traffic congestion, in traffic routes and hurting existing retail businesses, is unacceptable. CORRECTS holds itself out as an Open Forum to provide an opportunity for citizens and organizations to inform the public of events, issues or projects. This will allow you to report anything you wish to see addressed or answered regarding traffic anywhere in Park Ridge. Your input on this issue if vital to all of us. Please review and advise us of what you think of the concepts and what you prefer. We need your input to inform and advise. Check out our Park Ridge Traffic and Safety series of forums and speak out.
.Our Mission: Reduce Vehicle Congestion, Prevent Injuries, Save Lives |
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Last Updated - February 1, 2005
Editorial : How Hired Professional Consultants Produced Traffic Study of Half-truths and DistortionsUptown Traffic Study Sub-Optimized Will Bring Congestion, Injuries or WorseIt’s reasonable to assume that when a professional is hired to perform a service, a quality of work would be expected that was representative of their professionalism. However, a consultant can be true to his profession and yield incorrect results when improperly charged to do the work by being given guidelines, constraints or insufficient funding to perform the whole work they would have done given the opportunity. There are differing “expert
opinions” rendered every day by many providing “expert witness” testimony
in court. One can always find another opinion. Perhaps PRC chose a Traffic
Consulting Firm for their history of providing the answer sought as the
guiding choice for selection of “their expertise”, rather than an overall
proficiency. I’m told by some that this is well founded and KLOA provides
businesses the desired results for the least amount of money and there is
no liability on them for mistakes. However, there can be significant
liability on the community (see: “City Manager Admits Loss of Traffic
Control”
http://www.corrects.org/Traffic_Loss_of_Control.htm , which references
one accident alone costing a city
$28.1 million because the
city did not provide safe sidewalks near the schools.) The Traffic Consultants were instructed that “they must include a stoplight at Summit and Touhy”, as the City of Park Ridge demanded. This too reduces significantly their ability to provide the full benefit of their “expertise” as to how best configure traffic to enter the development project and beyond. The City of Park Ridge had already expressed an interest in the closing Meacham Avenue. The Developers had no objections and will financially benefit from a private residential street for their high-end townhouses. This was quickly grabbed at by the Traffic Consultants when they could not get the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) approval, due to the added light slowing the State controlled Touhy Avenue too much. All that I have described above is precisely what the Traffic Consultants were given as their objective and their results, while professional it follows, falls within those constraints. These constraints lead to dire consequences outside their sphere of influence. They did their
best to mitigate the inherent risks of a bad design with special Traffic
Signals enhanced with pedestrian crossing signalization, but remain unable
to prevent the future pedestrian injuries or deaths. No Traffic
Signalization can make up for the human
factor, which in this setting is enormous, given 200 seniors, plus
teenagers and shoppers who believe it safe to cross (see: “Traffic
Control: An Exercise in Self-Defeat” By Kenneth Todd
www.bikewalk.org/trafficcontrol_backtobasics.doc
(this is in Microsoft Word) and my
article “What's Wrong with the Over Regulation of Park Ridge Roads?”
http://www.corrects.org/Whats_Wrong_Over_Regulation.htm).
The traffic study of our existing traffic pattern is flawed and that is one thing that can be stated with absolute certainty. It only took into account one evening of traffic from 4 to 6 PM Mondays to Friday and its recorded number of cars does not sum from one intersection to the next by sometimes in excess of 100 cars an hour, even where no escape or parking is possible. IDOT permits 20% variances for such issues, but sometimes they exceed this and at times they chose to take an unwarranted variance of highly significant negative impact, simply to get the IDOT permit. However, Uptown Businesses; Metra Station; North to South residential traffic needs are all largely ignored. Worse, and most vital to the planned future of Uptown revitalization, is that they are still fighting for any plan that will convince IDOT that the traffic will not choke Northwest Highway, regardless of the facts and truth of multiple expansion plans on Northwest Highway in progress awaiting Park Ridge Approval, that Mayor MaRous is feverishly trying to complete now. If the plan passes, it would only be because it meets the today's load requirements and not of those coming immediately tomorrow, which is significantly greater in traffic. IDOT is counting primarily on the honesty of the request for a permit by the City of Park Ridge as proof that they believe it will work. IDOT is unable to determine that it is all based on a very flawed existing traffic pattern study, upon which technical conclusions are drawn. It is clearly demonstratable that the initial one day, two hour data is woefully inaccurate given the need to plan for the revitalization and which is also currently unsafe and will cause grief to those in the Uptown area (see my article: “To Add a Stoplight at Touhy and Summit” http://www.corrects.org/Current_Plan.htm ). In the “current plan” you will find huge number (A to Z) of unaddressed traffic flows that “vaporize into thin air”, differences in traffic totals from the total crossing an intersection and the total by the next intersection. Along with the added traffic caused late in their plan by IDOT’s requirement for NO Left Turn at least at Northwest Highway in both directions during peak hours. Thus with the initial data not only wrong but only reflecting the returning tide of cars in the evening it effectively can only render a flawed study according to the rule of “GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT (GIGO)”. While the City Manager, Tim Schuenke’s statements of the study being “great” by two experts, may be true, the resultant study is “garbage” based on GIGO. It is still not certain, exactly where traffic will adversely impact and will be made worse than the plan shows or where it will be added to other streets, as they continue to try to get just enough to put back the light they wanted at Northwest Highway and Summit, which they have had to temporarily cede to IDOT. Shoddier yet was the presentation meeting to Uptown Merchants between PRC and Partners, along with the City of Park Ridge Management, at Tuesday’s January 25th meeting at 6:00PM. PRC representatives publicly stated that their proposed the traffic signal located at Northwest Highway and Summit would go in to improve connectivity to neighboring merchants. I informed them they were mistaken, but they said it was I that was mistaken, although I referenced their own City website (See: City of Park Ridge last official word http://www.parkridge.us/Uptraffic.pdf posted weeks before that clearly continues to refute their claims. When both Park Ridge City Manager Schuenke and Juliana Mailer, Assistant City Manager restated something which is so vital to the merchant’s interests and vehemently deny the truth, what does that say about their knowledge or truthfulness, or possibly both? “Addendum( Subsequent to the issuance of this traffic study, discussions were held with the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). The results of these meetings included keeping the traffic signal located at Northwest Highway and Meacham Avenue in its current location. Original plans referred to in previous figures in this report (Figures 6 and 7) show the signal moving to Morris Avenue. This is not the current plan. It will remain at Meacham Avenue for now. The resulting impacts of this location and traffic assignments are shown on Figure A which follows. Also, the recommended improvements now include a prohibition of left turns from Northwest Highway to Touhy Avenue during the P.M peak hour (4:00 to 6:00 P.M.); a restriction of southbound to westbound right turns from Northwest Highway to Touhy Avenue (all hours); closure of Meacham Avenue; and a prohibition of parking along Northwest Highway between 4:00 to 6:00 P.M.“ Despite issuing an addendum and changing the traffic flow, the light is formally shown as going in on their plan and is yet that too, is just another error of many made by these “experts” and this serves as formal notice to advise the Citizens of Park Ridge, so that they may be made aware prior to a decision, that this too is invalid! The City Management is either dumbstruck by their lack of current and correct knowledge or worse, as well as other ill defined issues presented to these unwitting merchants and to the Citizens of Park Ridge too! After waiting for the City nearly a month, Tuesday, Assistant City Manager, Juliana Mailer promised me she will contact PRC to get answers to my questions A to Z but, time will tell. At last Monday's City Council meeting, City Manager Schuenke stated that neither he nor the City Council can control what PRC will do regarding the traffic and IDOT. The Council remained mute and accepted it all without question (see: “City Manager Admits Loss of Traffic Control” http://www.corrects.org/Traffic_Loss_of_Control.htm ). Currently, despite a traffic signal located right next to Touhy and Meacham, few people are willing to risk their life walking across Touhy. In sworn testimony given at the City’s Planning and Zoning Commission, by Summit Retirement Owner on November 22nd, 2004 that of at least 5 people she knew of, 2 were killed, three lost limbs and one woman lost both legs. Summit Square Retirement Residence hired a Traffic Consultant who refuted the traffic study and wanted time to write up his findings and present them! Yet the Planning and Zoning Commission refused to allow this or any new information and pushed forward illegally approving the zoning without ever glancing at the 50 pages of traffic documentation presented them and they entered into evidence by CORRECTS. The members also acted in very apparent violation of Illinois “Corrupt Practices Act and the Governmental Ethics Act “which embody the assertion that 'to the public good private respects must yield,' and officials avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest as an elected or appointed public officeholder in Illinois (see: “Summit Square Hotel hits Uptown planning” http://archives.pioneerlocal.com/cgi-bin/ppo-story/archives/localnews/2004/pr/11-25-04-445950.html for additional safety issues with this light). Now, the city believes by adding another light only yards from the existing one at Meacham and terminating Meacham their with a cul-de-sac, it will make a safe crossing despite thereby directly causing an estimate increase from 370 to 820 to 880 cars an hour (15 cars a minute or 1 car turn on average every 4 seconds) turning in eight different directions and even while the light is red will still have cars turning in 6 directions, as well as the traffic going straight with the light and the pedestrians. Since 200 senior citizens live at this intersection and the ability to cross quickly or judge who will be turning varies from good to greatly diminished, this is simply unsafe. Additionally there will now be children visiting the adjacent shopping or other shoppers who might wish to cross, which not only will be at risk, but will further distract others and these seniors as they watch for turning cars and some seniors will simply not be able to make it across in time allocated. Here is the breakdown while the light is red how many cars per hour a pedestrian will need to account for and hope they are seen by: 205 (4 a minute) Left off of Summit onto Touhy 149 (3 a minute) Right off of Summit onto Touhy 255 (5 a minute) Turning on Red, off of Touhy onto Summit ---- 609 (12 a minute or 1 car every 5 seconds) Cars Turning light green for pedestrian 180 Straight South & North on Summit ---- 807 Total of all Cars traveling while light is green for pedestrian 2350 (40 a minute or 1 car every 1.5 seconds) cars pass at 35 - 50 MPH Further, it is estimated that as much as 25% of teenage drivers are under the influence of alcohol and drugs, while other drivers are on cell phones, correcting their children. Frustrated, tired, and intoxicated and so on. Who would want their children or senior parents to cross this suburban crossing? Also, at Tuesday’s January 25th meeting City Manager Tim Schuenke proudly proclaimed “the city had learned its lesson from Summit Mall Parking”, but they are duplicating exactly the same thing with the above ground specialty grocery store which has 40 spaces above ground allocated to it! Shoppers will park aboveground first. This store will demand their assigned parking, along with police enforcement, booting or towing, yet again! This is a great disservice to our business community members who are in for one rude awakening! I once bought a beautiful elegant brick Tudor house on Courtland Ave in Park Ridge. I knew I would need to do a remolding project after I moved in to make it right. As the foundation in the back corner had sunk and needed to be jacked back up and the interior redone. I made the sale contingent on a professional home
inspection and that the amounts not exceed a reserve amount. The
professional inspected the home and called and told me he approved of the
house to the selling realtor who had recommended him to me. He said it
would cost me over twice the amount I set aside for reserve. I asked him
why he approved of it given my explicit parameters and was told because in
all other respects the house was solid and in good shape. I told him, I
don’t want to pay that much and he said that was all he could do. I
reminded him that was why I hired a professional to give a professional
opinion as to the excess cost and worthiness of the home. He said, well I
think it’s worthy. I told him “I hired you to protect me from this cost
overrun and that is your duty, either get this deal undone or I will see
you in court”. A few minutes later the “done deal” was undone and I
escaped. I think this exactly what Park Ridge has bought… a faulty
foundation and we need to undo it before it is too late. I doubt anyone in the city wants to spend much money fixing what could easily have been addressed before hand, by simply not installing a cul-de-sac on Meacham at Touhy and a minor reconfiguration that is badly needed joining Busse and Meacham directly across into Summit at right before the Metra station. There are far better solutions to provide Park Ridge a crossing than their proposed nightmare at any cost, except doing it right.
CORRECTS believes that progress mean improving the whole picture,
including pedestrian walkways and easy access on our roads. This is being
significantly hindered rather than fostered by the Park Ridge City
Council. Contact us anytime by email at
George Kirkland STAY INFORMED... KEEP IN TOUCH WITH NEW TRAFFIC ISSUES! |
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