Pingree Grove waits for traffic light OK where crash happened
A 75-year-old man suffered minor injuries in a car crash Tuesday at an intersection in Pingree Grove where village officials want to install a traffic light, but need approval from the Illinois Department of Transportation.
The crash happened at 6:55 a.m. when the man was driving east on Route 72 and was hit by a vehicle making a left turn from Richard J. Brown Boulevard onto westbound Route 72, Police Chief Shawn Beane said. The other driver, a teen on her way to school, was cited for failure to yield; the man was expected to spend the night in the hospital for observation, Beane said.
Richard J. Brown Boulevard is the entrance to the Cambridge Lakes subdivision south of Route 72. The village has budgeted $1 million for a traffic light there and is waiting for IDOT approval, Village Clerk Dawn Grivetti said.
IDOT spokesman Guy Tridgell said the department approved plans for a traffic light at the current T-intersection in April 2018. The village then asked to submit a revised application for a four-way intersection, he said.
"The final submittal from the village was received in December 2018, with a request for an expedited review," Tridgell said. "The department alerted the village on Jan. 4 that such a review is taking place. We anticipate completion of the review by the end of this month."
That stretch of Route 72 has a 55 mph speed limit and is "very heavily trafficked," Police Chief Shawn Beane said.
There were six accidents there last year, out of a total 129 crashes throughout the village, he said. There were also six accidents at the intersection of Route 72 and Reinking Road half a mile to the east, which has a traffic light, he added.
The village wants to extend Richard J. Brown Boulevard north of Route 72, where the Cambridge Lakes subdivision has built homes in the past year and more are planned, Beane said. That would create a second entrance to that portion of the subdivision, currently accessed via Reinking Road, he said.
If IDOT doesn't approve a four-way traffic light, the village would want to install a four-way stop, Grivetti said.