Joliet makes long-range plans for Theodore Street safety

JOLIET – Joliet has a long-range plan aimed at making Theodore Street easier to navigate for residents who live in subdivisions along the road on the far West Side.

But the city this month for a second time rejected a request for a four-way stop on Theodore Street for the sake of residents trying to get in and out of subdivisions.

Instead, Joliet plans to add middle turn lanes to Theodore Street as it runs west from Route 59, and additional traffic signals at two key intersections, a process that will take more than two years and is dependent on the city having money to do the work.

Something should be done, said Mike Dube, president of the Hampton Glen Condominium Association.

“I can’t tell you how many accidents I’ve seen since 2005,” Dube said. “If I have to turn left, I take the back roads to River Road, where there’s a traffic light.”

The city counted 29 crashes since Jan. 1, 2013, at the Theodore intersection Dube avoids. The cross street is Westhampton Drive on one side of Theodore and Brighton Lane on the other.

Traffic analysis

The city studied the intersection at the request of a resident on the Brighton Lakes side of Theodore. Hampton Glen is on the other side of the street.

In 2016, the city studied the Theodore intersection with Great Ridge Drive before deciding that a four-way stop was not the answer.

The problem with a four-way stop, city engineers said, is that the volume of traffic is so much greater on Theodore than the side residential streets that it would be bad traffic control to stop motorists on the much busier street.

Traffic is 11 times greater on Theodore than on Brighton and Westhampton combined, according to the city’s analysis of the intersection. The average daily traffic on Theodore is 19,439 vehicles. The combined average daily traffic on Brighton and Westhampton is 1,726 vehicles.

The crossing is the first full intersection west of Route 59 and just beyond the Walmart store.

Left turn crashes

The city study focused on crashes that could have been averted by creating a four-way stop, which amounted to 19 of the 29 incidents. Of those, two-thirds involved vehicles turning left from Theodore Street.

“What this tells us is there’s a need for left-turn improvements at this intersection,” Traffic Engineer Russ Lubash told the Joliet City Council Public Service Committee on Oct. 3.

“That’s something that’s not unique to this intersection,” Lubash added. “It’s common to all intersections along this corridor.”

The city’s plan is to add a fifth middle lane that vehicles could use for left turns.

Traffic signals would be added at Drauden Road and Wesmere Parkway.

The plan

But it won’t happen quickly.

“Early next year, we’ll probably hire a consultant to do a phase-one study on Theodore from Route 59 to Drauden Road,” Joliet Public Works Director James Trizna said. “We think we’ll probably going to need an additional lane for the whole section.”

Joliet will have to find funding for what is likely to be an expensive and extensive project, Trizna said.

He said 2020 would likely be the earliest construction would begin if the money is allocated.

In the meantime, the city has added signs to warn Theodore Street motorists of the approaching intersection at Great Ridge Drive, which is Roth Drive on the other side of Theodore.

Lubash said the same will be done at Brighton Lane-Westhampton Drive with the signs likely going up sometime in November.