Elmhurst exploring ways to make Prairie Path crossing safer

Elmhurst officials are considering rerouting the Illinois Prairie Path at York Street to make it safer for bicyclists and pedestrians to cross the busy road.

Experts say the Prairie Path crossing at York long has been a safety concern because roughly 15,000 cars a day pass that location and more than 1,000 people cross there daily. The high volume of traffic has caused some crashes and near misses, officials said.

Elmhurst applied for a federal grant several years ago to build either a bridge or underpass at York, but the city would have had to pay roughly $600,000. To reduce costs, officials decided to explore other options.

Schaumburg-based TranSystems was hired to study other alternatives. The draft results of that study will be presented to the city council's public affairs and safety committee today.

In a recent memo, TranSystems outlined five possible solutions that include modifying the existing crossing or moving it either north or south.

A flashing beacon was installed in 2012 that path users can activate to stop traffic along York. But TranSystems, which analyzed the crossing, found relatively few people actually use it.

To make the crossing safer, a median could be added that would allow pedestrians to cross one traffic lane to reach a center island. Once on the island, they could focus their attention on the next traffic lane before completing the crossing.

That alternative would cost about $45,000, according to preliminary estimates.

Three other alternatives involve moving the crossing north to Seminole Avenue and South Street. All three of those options would require the Prairie Path to be realigned onto Elmhurst Park District property. Two of them would require a realignment of South Street.

The estimated prices of the three alternatives are $111,000, $158,000 and $206,000.

The last alternative calls for routing path users to the south along Vallette Street and existing train tracks. It would require bike lanes to be installed on the north and south sides of Vallette. As a result, on-street parking along Vallette would need to be removed.

The Vallette street alternative would cost about $68,000, according to preliminary estimates.

City engineer Kent Johnson is scheduled present the draft results of the study today. The public affairs and safety committee is expected to have a discussion at a later date, after the park district and DuPage County provide comments.