$1.5M roundabout planned for Plank Road in Sycamore

SYCAMORE – An ongoing study of the Plank Road corridor has determined a $1.5 million plan to install a roundabout is the best option for relieving congestion at the intersection of Plank, Lindgren and North Grove roads in Sycamore, a county highway official said.

DeKalb County Engineer Nathan Schwartz said other options for the intersection, including putting in traffic signals or making it a four-way stop with stop signs, were considered before a roundabout was decided upon.

“Both of those [putting in traffic signals or more stop signs] by the way would cause tremendous backups onto Plank Road and likely cause more crashes. And so we looked at all of the different options available and the roundabout option was the only one that did very well to address all of the issues,” Schwartz said.

According to an email from Schwartz shared with the Daily Chronicle, a consultant has already begun work on the project.

The changes won’t happen anytime soon, however. Schwartz said he hopes the roundabout is completed by the end of 2025 but said it could be done as late as spring 2026.

The majority of the funding for the roundabout has been acquired through the DeKalb Sycamore Area Transportation Study, the federally-designated metropolitan planning organization for the DeKalb-Sycamore-Cortland urbanized area.

Schwartz said the planning organization will contribute 80% of a $1.5 million spot improvement on Plank Road for fiscal year 2025.

An application for a grant from the Illinois Safe Routes to School Program has been submitted to supplement the cost of the project, which Schwartz said he expects to stay near $1.5 million.

Aside from traffic, Schwartz said Crawford, Murphy & Tilly – the consultant firm that’s been hired for the project – is looking in to ways to make the area safer for Sycamore’s youngest commuters.

North Grove Elementary School is fewer than a ½ mile from the corner of Plank and Lindgren roads.

Schwartz said finding a way to make the intersection safer for those who walk to the school was a factor in the roundabout decision.

“The roundabout provides a much better access for pedestrians to be able to cross the busy Plank Road. And the reason why pedestrians have a much easier way to cross at a roundabout is because traffic has to slow down to about 20 miles an hour to go around the roundabout. So traffic is greatly slowed down,” Schwartz said. “Pedestrians only cross one direction of traffic at a time, and then there is a large center refuge item before they cross the other direction of traffic. And we’re planning some additional safety features for pedestrians.”

Plank Road, among others, has for years garnered a reputation of being dangerous for area motorists.

In January, two cars - including one carrying a 2-year-old – collided on Plank Road near Moose Range Road because of what DeKalb County Sheriff’s officials said were icy road conditions.

Four years ago, days before Christmas 2019, a Cortland mother and her son were killed in an early morning crash after their car went off the roadway on Plank Road east of Lukens Road. Kal-el Sexton, 17, was a Sycamore High School senior, football star and homecoming king. His mother, Dalahn S. Colley, 46, was remembered as a doting parent.

Those crashes, and numerous others, prompted members of the public to speak out earlier this year, demanding a safer Plank Road in Sycamore.

Schwartz said the results of the Plank Road corridor study, which is expected to offer new information about a potential realignment of Plank Road, will be announced in 2024. The study’s results have not been published publicly as of Wednesday.

Any potential changes will take place north of the Plank Road intersection closest to North Grove Elementary School, however.

“Based on all the different scenarios on what we might end up doing with Plank Road, this particular intersection is going to stay where it’s at. If we do a realignment, or whatever else happens, this intersection on Plank and Lindgren is essentially going to look the same as far as what direction traffic is flowing,” Schwartz said.