Crusader beams

Determined, dogged, stubborn, irritating, perhaps even obsessive. These are all terms that could aptly describe Veronica Armstrong, who has waged a five-year quest to get a traffic signal installed near her home.

Now you can add one more term: Successful.

After years of cajoling, urging and begging McHenry County transportation officials to put a traffic light at the intersection of Walkup and Edgewood roads in Crystal Lake, it looks like Armstrong finally is getting her wish.

County and Nunda Township officials confirm that a signal at the intersection has been added to a plan to widen and improve Walkup between Route 176 and Bull Valley Road.

"Oh my God, they're actually going to do it," Armstrong said when describing her first reaction to the decision. "It's not just for me. It's for all the people that have had accidents there."

Armstrong is one of those people. Her quest began about five years ago when she was involved in her first of two crashes at the intersection.

Checking county records, she soon learned she was not alone.

Between 2001 and 2005, 32 crashes occurred at the intersection, six of them causing injuries, according to the McHenry County Sheriff's Department.

"I decided something had to be done," she said. "It was my crusade."

The crusade has made Armstrong a fixture at county transportation committee meetings, where she regularly implores panel members through accident statistics, personal crash photos, newspaper stories and, in one instance, a piece of wreckage from a collision.

Through it all, Armstrong received polite denials from county officials who told her the number of vehicles passing through the intersection didn't justify a signal.

Armstrong admits she thought about giving up. However, fears that one of the crashes heard outside her window would end with someone dead kept her going through years of rejection.

"I've had so many people tell me, 'Why don't you give it up? You can't win.'" she said. "I was on a mission.

"This shows you can fight city hall," she said. "And if you're persistent enough, you can get them to change their minds."

Although county transportation officials have praised Armstrong's determination, they say the signal's addition to the project has as much or more to do with traffic counts than her efforts.

"We studied the traffic numbers and, until now, it has never met the (requirements)," said Dan Shea, chairman of the county's transportation committee.

However, urged on by Armstrong, officials continued to monitor the traffic flow through the intersection, and in May 2006 they hit the magic number to justify a signal.

Finally this summer, the Illinois Department of Transportation gave the county the green light to include the signal in the Walkup project, county design manager Wally Diettrich said.

Still, it may be years before Armstrong actually sees the fruits of her labors. The county still must finalize its plans for the project and obtain right-of-ways through 125 parcels. That means construction may not be finished until 2010, Diettrich said.

Armstrong plans to be there every step of the way, saying she will continue to attend meetings and keep a close eye on the project until she sees the signal in place.

When the signal is a reality, she said, her crusading days will be over.

"People ask me if I'm going to run for office or something, and the answer is no," Armstrong said. "I got what I pushed for. Now I'm done."