Glen Ellyn seeks compromise to end road dispute

Designing streets can be a game of inches.

That’s what engineers have learned in Glen Ellyn, where residents of a tree-lined corridor oppose a plan to widen their street from 21 feet to the village standard of 25 feet.

With that in mind, village engineer Bob Minix proposed a compromise — 22 feet — that was endorsed this week by the village’s capital improvements commission. That recommendation now goes to the village board, which is expected to make the final decision on a new street width sometime in August.

But some residents on Hawthorne Boulevard, an east-west road just north of the village’s downtown, have indicated they’ll keep the heat on village officials to maintain the street’s width at 21 feet, Minix said.

The $4.5 million reconstruction of Hawthorne from Ellyn Avenue to the village’s border with Wheaton will include upgrades to underground water, sanitary sewer and storm sewer systems.

Residents say they’re not opposed to the reconstruction — as long as it doesn’t come at the expense of taking down trees and moving utility poles that are close to existing curbs. Others have also raised safety concerns, suggesting a wider street could lead to increased vehicle speeds on a road that passes two schools: Hadley Junior High and Glenbard West High School.

Minix said traffic studies show there isn’t a difference in driver speeds or traffic volume on streets of varying width.

He said few trees would be affected by widening Hawthorne 6 inches on each side. Eight street poles would have to be moved under the 22-foot recommendation.

“The evidence seemed to be compelling to go to 22 feet as a reasonable compromise between all the different factors that come into play,” Minix said.

Upon village board approval of a street width, final design engineering will begin and a public meeting to look at final plans likely will be held in December.

Construction is expected to begin next spring and be complete by Labor Day 2012.