Will a Mount Prospect neighborhood finally be the road not taken?

A popular choice for cut-through drivers traveling north and south through Mount Prospect could become the road less traveled.

Mount Prospect’s Hatlen Heights area has long seen an influx of vehicles, often driving at high speeds, seeking a shortcut to or from Central Road. For many drivers, it has been a preferred alternative to taking Busse Road.

But now the village of Mount Prospect has taken direct aim at the problem, installing speed humps along Audrey Lane and Hatlen Avenue between Central Road and Connie Lane.

The elevated black strips are a relief to Hatlen Heights resident Debbie Geavaras. She and several neighbors have been advocating for several years for solutions to a problem that had many worry about the safety of their children.

The humps were completed Friday, and residents at Saturday’s informal “Coffee With Council” session at village hall said they already are seeing reduced traffic, slower cars and a quieter neighborhood.

But some are saying the humps pose a slight personal inconvenience for the people who live in the neighborhood. One said she travels through the neighborhood to get to Central Road multiple times daily and finds having four humps in a two-block section annoying.

Trustee Vince Dante said that, from an engineering standpoint, you can’t just put in a single hump; the spacing is dictated by standards.

“I know it’s inconvenient for the residents on the street,” Geavaras said. “But it seems to be the only thing that was stopping the large volume of traffic and the speed. There's a better chance that we're going to save the lives of the 30, 40 kids that play on those streets by not having speeders.”