For $40,000, Rolling Meadows to get second opinion on Kirchoff ‘road diet’ plan
Rolling Meadows will spend nearly $40,000 for a traffic study that will examine the feasibility of a reconfiguration of Kirchoff Road from five lanes to three.
Civiltech Engineering will provide the requested second opinion about traffic safety and capacity along a milelong stretch of the thoroughfare that runs through the center of town.
Approval of the $39,178 professional services agreement by city council members this week comes after they decided to halt planning for the lane reduction in March and put out a request for proposals so that current and future traffic patterns could be examined first.
The so-called “road diet” plan remains controversial.
“Reducing the traffic lanes will guarantee congestion,” said Lynn Griesmeyer, who submitted a petition with four pages of signatures from residents opposed to the plan. “Impatient drivers will cause would-be shoppers to shop elsewhere to avoid the congestion on Kirchoff Road. Business owners can expect a downturn in their clientele, and homeowners will experience a frustration of exiting the parking lot or driveway of their home.”
Betty Anderson, who also helped collect signatures, fears businesses will leave town.
“We won’t have a bank, get a haircut, visit a restaurant, or a dentist,” she told the council Tuesday night. “Have the aldermen or women taken into account that people have built up their businesses?”
Under the plan, Kirchoff — which currently has two lanes in each direction and a turn lane in the center — would be altered by removing an eastbound lane and a westbound lane, and replacing them with on-street parking spaces in the commercial area. Protected bike lanes would be nearest to the curbs.
Despite opposition from business owners along the corridor, some on the council envision the roadway changes as a pro-business approach to reviving the city’s traditional downtown area.
A 110-page Kirchoff Road Corridor Study, which determined the road has excess capacity, recommended the reduction in lanes to calm driving speeds, and improve safety and the experience for bicyclists and pedestrians. The plan would also create more on-street public parking to enable future mixed-use redevelopment, the study says.
While the council has put adoption of the full plan on hold, they did advance another key recommendation from it Tuesday: to create a new “TC” Town Center zoning district along the corridor. The new zoning rules — which will be up for a final second reading vote May 27 — contain bulk, design, signage and parking regulations, such as allowing building heights of 70 feet and placing parking lots behind buildings to improve the pedestrian environment.
The traffic consultant could be collecting traffic and speed counts along Kirchoff as soon as this week, with a report presented to the council as soon as late July. City officials say funding for the study will be realized by savings from the city’s annual road program.