‘People are in danger’: Wheaton residents urge action to install traffic light at risky crossing
As rush-hour traffic surged nearby on Roosevelt Road, Mehret Asgedom remembered the many faces she had seen dodging cars to reach a mall on the other side of the busy Wheaton corridor.
“There was a senior citizen that would race and pause to beat traffic in his motorized wheelchair. There was my face, insecure but excited as I went to work at Boston Market for the first time,” Asgedom said Thursday outside the Marian Park apartments.
The one moment she’s glad she missed was when her beloved father, Haileab, was killed trying to cycle across Roosevelt in 1998.
“My father is sadly one that many of you will never meet,” Asgedom told a crowd gathered at the complex east of County Farm Road to advocate for a traffic light on Roosevelt/Route 38.
Marian Park residents and members of the DuPage United coalition, which is supporting the effort, said they’re frustrated with the glacial pace of progress on the traffic signal.
“Over the past 28 years, lives have continued to be lost crossing Roosevelt Road, resulting in three fatalities, 11 reported pedestrian injuries and dozens of car accidents every year,” said the Rev. Kevin Caruso, rector at Wheaton’s Trinity Episcopal Church.
The stretch of Roosevelt, with St. Francis High School and apartments on the south side and a Target store on the north, sees an average 1,900 vehicles an hour.
The Illinois Department of Transportation has indicated a light could be installed on Roosevelt aligning with driveways at Target and St. Francis — but the agency won’t fund the light, which is considered a private benefit.
Although a $250,000 state grant was secured for the project, the total cost is $840,000.
Work would also have to be coordinated with major improvements to Roosevelt in the area as part of IDOT’s multiyear (2025-2030) plan.
“Current engineering efforts are targeted to enable a contract letting in the later middle years of the multiyear program,” IDOT spokesperson Maria Castaneda said
Resident Keyana Ray described witnessing a near-miss involving a semitrailer truck and children who were crossing Roosevelt recently.
“This is a public safety issue,” Ray said. “This is not a ‘private land matter.”
Rally leaders asked the city to commit to signing an intergovernmental agreement with IDOT and to identify funding for the light within the next 12 months.
Wheaton City Manager Raymond Munch said, “The Roosevelt Road traffic signal project is in the design engineering phase with IDOT, and the city has not received any recent updates on the status of that work. Consideration of an intergovernmental agreement is the next step after design engineering is complete, which we anticipate will be sometime next year.”
Castaneda said the safest option for pedestrians right now is a traffic signal at Roosevelt and County Farm Road.
Marian Park dwellers have said the County Farm Road light is too far away for elderly residents and people using wheelchairs, particularly in winter.
Longtime resident Debbie Suggs has been fighting for a traffic light for years.
“Have you ever seen anyone hit by a car?” she asked at the rally. “I have more than once. I have held my neighbor’s hand while waiting for the ambulance. There have always been a number of my neighbors who do not have cars and walk to get to work, buy groceries and other daily necessities.”
“People are in danger,” DuPage United organizer Stacy Walker said.
Statewide perspective
Across Illinois, fatalities from crashes and pedestrian-involved crashes are down, according to IDOT’s preliminary data.
As of Saturday, 617 people had died in collisions this year compared to 790 as of Sept. 12, 2025.
IDOT also reported that between Jan. 1 and Sept. 9, there had been 96 pedestrian crashes involving 96 deaths statewide. During the same period in 2025, there were 139 pedestrian crashes and 148 deaths.
“Although the first half of the year is showing a more than 20% decline in fatalities compared to last year, we want to exercise caution as it is too early to authoritatively comment,” Castaneda said.
“We are committed to constantly monitoring and observing our system for any possible improvements to help save lives, including monitoring trends and working with local, state and national partners in the identification of projects and programs to improve safety, especially for vulnerable road users.”
mpyke@dailyherald.com.