‘We got to take care of the kids’: Study raises safety concerns around four Buffalo Grove schools
A new study identifies safety concerns around four Buffalo Grove schools, especially Buffalo Grove High School, where a security officer was killed following a crash in April.
The Safe Routes to School Assessment suggests about $1.85 million in improvements combined at three of the schools — Cooper Middle School, Joyce Kilmer Elementary School and the high school.
The study by Civiltech Engineering found that the intersection of Dundee and Arlington Heights roads near the high school poses the biggest concern, with more than 300 crashes within a quarter mile between 2020 and 2025.
Not included in the study is an April crash in which a vehicle struck a pole near the school parking lot. The pole then fell and hit security guard Orlando Rivas, causing fatal injuries.
Not all of the crashes reported involved students or happened during school hours, said Village Engineer Briget Schwab. However, 2,000 students arrive at and depart the high school daily.
The study recommends an enhanced crossing at the west entrance on Arlington Heights Road, with overhead flashing beacons, updated signs and ADA upgrades. That would cost an estimated $261,000.
Elsewhere, the study noted that dismissal periods see heavy pedestrian and vehicular traffic at the intersection of Golfview Terrace and Raupp Boulevard near Kilmer Elementary.
At Cooper Middle School, students must cross Arlington Heights Road without a traffic signal, relying on crossing guards to help them. Cooper is connected by a shared-use path to the fourth Buffalo Grove school in the study, Longfellow Elementary School. Residents have expressed concerns about the proximity of the path to the roadway near the intersection with Bernard Drive.
Schwab said stressed that the village has not yet committed to pursuing any of the recommendations in the study.
“This is merely to provide a technical basis for prioritizing projects, coordinating with roadway agencies and pursuing funding,” she said.
Other suggested improvements include high-visibility crosswalks, rectangular rapid flashing beacons, pedestrian refuge islands, new sidewalk connections, ADA accessibility upgrades and updated school signage and pavement markings.
Some improvements have already been installed, such as a “No Turn on Red When Pedestrians Present” sign at Dundee and Arlington Heights roads, and updated signage and parking restrictions on Golfview Terrace.
Buffalo Grove Trustee Kevin Richards noted that two of his children went through three of the four schools.
“I think this is a huge effort to get it right, because we got to take care of the kids,” he said.
szalusky@dailyherald.com