'Don't let Emily's life go in vain': Batavia residents urge Route 31 safety measures now
People who favor turning Batavia Avenue in parts of Batavia in to a three-lane road got some good news Tuesday night, as they learned IDOT has agreed to start the process several years early.
But in the meantime, residents urged the city council to do things immediately to slow down traffic on the state highway also called Route 31 - including increasing police enforcement of speed limits - to make it safer for pedestrians and bicyclists to cross.
"Don't let Emily's life go in vain. How many more lives need to be lost or injured before you do take action?" said Ken White, whose daughter-in-law Emily White died May 26, several days after she was hit while bicycling across Batavia Avenue at Millview Drive.
City Administrator Laura Newman said that in a meeting Tuesday with Illinois Department of Transportation officials and several state legislators, she was told that IDOT will let the city get a permit now to re-stripe Batavia Avenue from Fabyan Parkway to Wilson Street, and Main Street to Mooseheart Road, to make it a three-lane road. That is not likely to happen until at least April 2024, however.
Newman said IDOT has also agreed to study the speed limits on the road, beginning in July.
The city asked IDOT for a road diet - the three-lane concept - several years ago. It is in a Phase I engineering study for the request. IDOT has not approved doing it in the downtown section, because it is concerned that reducing the road in that section could cause bottlenecks.
About 80 people attended the discussion at a council meeting Tuesday. It was planned after vehicles hit bicyclists in two crashes in May, including the one involving Emily White. A teenage boy, hit in the other crash crossing at Union Avenue, remains hospitalized.
Among the ideas was hiring a crossing guard at Union during the hours that nearby Harold Hall Quarry Beach is open this summer. Newman said that would cost about $13,000. Aldermen agreed to consider that.
Resident Kim Hardin, a friend of White's, has been voluntarily guarding kids there since the crashes. She also organized a rally last Sunday at Millview, urging drivers to slow down and the city to take action.
Any changes to Route 31 have to be approved by IDOT. City officials believe reducing it to three lanes will slow traffic down.
Some residents urged the city to take out a flashing beacon at Union. The beacon, which pedestrians activate, flashes yellow lights that warn drivers pedestrians will be crossing. But several people said it makes things more dangerous by making blind spots for drivers, as a driver in one lane may stop and drivers in the other lanes don't.
Newman said the city is stepping up education about safely crossing the road, as well as its campaign urging drivers to slow down.