Geneva OKs Bricher roadwork

Making a left turn from Bricher Road into Geneva Commons shopping center may be less dangerous by the Christmas shopping season, as contracts are expected to be awarded next week for adding a through lane and a traffic light.

The Geneva City Council, meeting as a committee of the whole Monday, gave preliminary approval to hiring Abbey Paving Co. of Aurora to do the job for $427,680. It had budgeted $510,000 for the work, and engineers had estimated it would cost $483,187.

Bricher Road is on the border of Geneva and St. Charles.

To the south is the Geneva Commons shopping center, and to the north are Lowe's and Meijer in St. Charles. Bricher leads to a light at Randall Road.

Direct access to Randall from the Meijer-Lowe's development is limited to right-turn-in and right-turn-out only, so a driver that wants to go north either has to snake through the Meijer lot to an exit at Route 38, then quickly move over left for the turn at Randall, or make a left near Lowe's onto Bricher.

Accidents tripled there after the Commons opened, with people getting hit from behind as they tried to turn left into the Commons, or getting hit crossing from Lowes to the Commons.

The city of St. Charles will pay 40 percent of the bill, if its City Council approves an agreement between the two towns.

Alderman Sam Hill said he tried to make a left turn out of the Lowe's lot onto Bricher this weekend. "I had great difficulty making that left turn. I almost got clipped. I almost got T-boned," he said.

Alderman Charles Brown wondered what engineering firm designed what he called a "flawed" intersection in the first place. He also questioned whether it was wise to install a light less than 700 feet from Randall Road, but city engineer Jason Elias said the light will be coordinated with the Randall light so that no traffic backs up onto Randall.

Mayor Kevin Burns noted that part of the responsibility for a threefold increase in accidents at that intersection rests on drivers.

"Part of that flaw is the motorists who, when they turn in (to the Commons), immediately stop and look for parking. It is an unmitigated disaster," he said.