Geneva council asks state to make Route 31 three lanes
The study Geneva did as it contemplated a road diet for South Batavia Avenue confirmed what drivers have felt instinctively: It is narrow.
From Elizabeth Place to Fabyan Parkway, 85 percent of the roadway is less than 37 feet wide. It's even narrower in spots. State standards say the four-lane roadway - also known as Route 31 - should be at least 40 feet wide.
"I was shocked, professionally, to find out there was a significant stretch of roadway that was less than 35 feet wide," Rich Babica, Geneva's public works director, told the city council Tuesday.
The council voted to ask the Illinois Department of Transportation to reduce the road from four lanes to three lanes when it repaves the road from Riverbank Laboratories north later this year. The Fabyan Parkway intersection is in Batavia.
There were 41 accidents reported from January 2009 through December 2014, according to Geneva police. The study showed 34 percent of the accidents on the stretch were sideswipes. The state average for sideswipe accidents is 10 percent.
Resident William Kerfoot spoke against reducing the number of lanes. The retired soda delivery truck driver said his experience leads him to believe people will use the turn lane to pass slow moving vehicles or stopped vehicles, such as garbage trucks. They will then get into head-on collisions in the turn lane, he said.
Hans Heymann, who lives on South Batavia Avenue at Fargo Boulevard, said there will be more rear-end accidents as traffic backs up. He also worries traffic will back up on eastbound Fargo as people wait longer to make a left turn on to northbound South Batavia Avenue if their view of oncoming northbound traffic is obscured by vehicles lined up waiting to turn west on to Fargo.
The $31.500 study was paid for by residents interested in getting the road changed. It originally came up from residents who wanted a bicycle path or bicycle lanes installed, to connect to the Fox River Trail. The bike lanes were eliminated from the concept when it was discovered how narrow the road is.