Mount Prospect residents want beacon at downtown pedestrian crossing

Mount Prospect is taking steps to make the heavily used pedestrian crossing at Central Road and Emerson Street safer.

Public Works Director Sean Dorsey said the village has asked the Illinois Department of Transportation to allow the installation of overhead rectangular rapid flashing beacons at the downtown crossing.

That was one of the suggestions residents made to village board members recently.

Dorsey said IDOT has rejected previous requests because the crosswalk is near a signalized intersection at Main Street and Central.

"They felt it was too close, that it would be confusing for drivers, and queue lengths might not be adequate," he said. "We asked them to reconsider and we're awaiting the response."

Pedestrians and bicyclists use the crosswalk and median island at the intersection as a bridge between the neighborhoods to the north and downtown. The Mount Prospect Public Library, village hall, restaurants and the Metra station are all nearby.

Neighbors tell village officials that getting from one side to the other can pose a risk.

The village installed the island about three years ago, giving walkers and cyclists a place to wait for traffic to clear. Signs tell approaching drivers they need to stop for pedestrians.

But residents said a flashing beacon or a stop light also is needed, noting that there are times when a driver in one lane will stop while a driver in another lane will plow through the crosswalk.

On June 27, a child crossing northbound from Emerson was struck by a vehicle, according to a police report. While a driver in the right lane of traffic stopped, the report said, a driver in the left lane did not and struck the child, who was taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital and, according to neighbors, survived.

"You might get three of the four lanes that stop, and then one lane is still going 40, 45 miles an hour," Emerson Street resident Jason Raymond told the village board. "With the number of children and commuters that cross there every day, it happens all the time where one lane does not stop, and they're traveling at high speed."

Fellow Emerson Street resident Anne Petillo has supported flashing lights at the crossing since 2007, when, pregnant and pushing a stroller across the street, she nearly was hit by a car turning left onto Central from Emerson.

Village Manager Michael Cassady told neighbors that the village has spent much time working with IDOT.

"If we could get a light, we would invest in a light," he said.