Route 59 slowdown begins

This is a letter to the Editor regarding this topic.

It’s so evident that there is NO ONE in Naperville’s Transportation, Engineering and Development Department that uses Route 59 on a daily basis. Otherwise, why would ANY construction be scheduled for Route 59 during morning, afternoon and early evening hours?
What a crazy, irresponsible, disrespectful decision. Traffic on Route 59 is ALWAYS congested. It just that is gets even MORE congested during rush hours. The section of Route 59 scheduled for construction is so close to the I88 ramps and is right there at the Fire Station located at Route 59 and Brookdale Road. In her July 24 article, Kathy Chichon quotes a city’s public information coordinator as saying “[commuters are advised] to take an alternate route if at all possible.” What alternate route? Eola Road and Raymond Drive are already heavily congested during the rush hours and are on their way to being congested most of the time. How about showing the neighborhoods surrounding the construction and soon-to-be alternate route areas some courtesy? I hope I don’t need speedy service from the Fire Department during construction. ANY construction planned for Route 59, including hopefully, the eventual widening of Route 59, should be done during late evening and early morning hours. Pay the construction company a premium to work 3rd shift hours. The payback is enormous. Construction during 3rd shift hours is safer for all drivers (less road rage], is safer for families living in potential alternate route areas, is safer for construction workers, is better for the environment because cars idle less and therefore use less gas, is better for anyone needing the services of the Fire Department and most importantly, is a respectful acknowledgment from the City that it cares about its taxpayers.

The issue of congestion on Rt 59 could be better addressed by Naperville & Aurora using current technology to better synchronize traffic flow. Often when I am on Rt 59 on the weekends running errands during the early morning between the hours of 6 & 7 to avoid traffic clusters I have to stop for one red light after another when there are no cars at the intersecting streets waiting to cross over 59 or turn left onto 59.

Even during moderate or heavy traffic traveling north or south on 59 you encounter red light after red light when there are relatively few waiting to cross over or turn left onto 59.

Another problem is that the police are not actively involved in enforcing traffic laws on 59. Often times the backups are so bad that multiple cars turning left onto 59 anxious not to have to wait through another stoplight cycle will block the intersection so those crossing over 59 are stuck while they have a green light causing a domino effect of increased congestion by a few ignorant and self absorbed motorists.

Route 59 is such a cluster it boggles the mind how voters do not hold their municipalities accountable.

Had this issue been better anticipated earlier while the area was experiencing population growth many of these problems would not exist. Suburbs closer to the city of Chicago have main thoroughfares located at a closer proximity to one another where we have much more spacing between main roads such as Eola and Route 59 in addition to many others.

What we have are politicians looking to increase their power and taxing authority by accepting new building proposals for 5 story condominiums and apartments without any regard for improving the infrastructure to better handle the population increases.

Here are some ideas for mayor Pradel and the mayor of Aurora to ponder;

· Many motorists are looking to enter the Fox Valley mall and other expansive strip malls in the same area around the main mall. Have exits on the northbound and southbound lanes that tunnel underneath other major roads and come out in the mall parking lots avoiding stoplights. This would greatly reduce traffic congestion between North Aurora Road & 75th street.

· Longer right hand turn lanes into the malls cutting down on backups at the stoplights.

· As mentioned above better use of synchronized technology, better cooperation between Naperville & Aurora on traffic grid issues and police enforcement of traffic laws.

· An overpass or underpass at 75th street, Ogden Avenue and / or New York street.

· Underground entrance tunnels for traffic entering or exiting in all directions at Route 88 eliminating both stoplights on the route 59 overpass.

While there is a traffic study currently looking at route 59, unless these serious, comprehensive and long-term solutions are implemented area residents will be facing worsening commute times at expanding intervals.

I may have to run for mayor to get these plans moving forward.

The road construction situation this year is now bordering in the ridiculous. Virtually every single major thoroughfare right now is undergoing some kind of roadwork, and it is resulting in endless delays and major traffic backups. I cannot recall a previous year when this much road construction was happening at the same time, and I am now beginning to question exactly how much of this work is actually necessary. I am also starting to see that I am not the only one out there who is getting frustrated with this insanity. I have actually seen motorists engaging construction workers in rather animated confrontations, and I think we are now at the place where enough is enough. Unless the construction is absolutely warranted, I think there should be a moratorium of sorts placed on any future roadwork, until a more viable and reasonable plan can be created that would ensure that less of us who have to use the roadways are subjected to continuous delays in trying to get to our destinations.

I already avoid Route 59, so it won't matter much to me either way. Eola seems less efficient, but for going points west, I prefer it to driving north on 59 and dealing with the mess that is the I-88 interchange. The intersection at North Aurora Road is pretty treacherous, too.

In response to the comments on the recent lane closure on Route 59, the City of Naperville would like to clarify that the permit for the work associated with the Design Pointe construction, was issued by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), who has jurisdiction over the road and its signals. It is standard practice by IDOT to restrict the hours of lane closures to 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. This time restriction allows the road to remain open to its full capacity during the most congested times, the morning and evening rush hours.

In consideration of the residential homes located to the west of Route 59, overnight work on this project is not appropriate. The I-88 bridge work on Route 59 performed earlier this year, which was allowed to be rescheduled to overnight construction did not have adjacent residential homes.

The City of Naperville has been diligent in its efforts to work with the City of Aurora, IDOT, and state legislators to address the capacity issues and alleviate congestion on Route 59, so much so that it is currently a legislative priority for the city. Naperville has also held numerous public meetings to gain input from commuters, residents and businesses on possible improvement options for Route 59.

The City of Naperville continues to urge residents to contact their legislators to support future funding for the Route 59 expansion project.

For more information on the city's Route 59 expansion efforts, visit www.naperville.il.us/route59expansion.aspx.

There are two seasons in Chicago- Winter and Construction!

I agree with Clusterbuster's amazingly reasonable solution to the traffic problems- We need more tunnels. Along with alleviating traffic jams it will also quell the impending Morlock uprising. With any luck an abundance of tunnels will drive these subterranean wretches back underground.

Everyone just needs to step back and look at the bigger picture here. I'm not about to say that I don't think construction stinks because I hate idling down Route 59 during rush hour just as much as the next guy. Instead I focus on how sweet it's going to be to sail down Route 59 going close to the speed limit no matter what time of day.

A far more pressing issue, in my opinion, is identifying exactly what type of nerd refers to I-88 as the "Ronnie". :)

Construction on Rt. 59 or any other major road is going to suck no matter what you do. It would be nice if the lane closures could only be at night, but like the city spokesperson said, that would disturb the residents, and that's not fair. The larger question is what can we do to make driving around Chicagoland less of a pain? You can't just keep adding lanes to the roads because there's only so much room. There was an interesting article recently in U.S. News and World Report about traffic, and they said that the problem is that this country's roads were built for a fraction of the population we have now, and the roads just haven't grown to compensate for the population growth. Other countries use public transportation, but those countries are much smaller and more compact than ours is. Most people don't realize that an entire European country is the size of one of our states. The U.S. News story also said that it would cost many billions of dollars for a large city to update its rail network, and the money just isn't there. We really need some kind of drastically new plan, but it would take a lot of money, a lot of leadership and probably a shift in the way we live, and all of those are not easy to come by. So traffic will most likely continue to get more and more congested, people will keep moving farther and farther away from their jobs in the big cities because housing costs so much, and we'll all continue to complain about traffic.

Hello... My name is Jen Brower and I am running for State House for District 96. I avoid Rt 59 most of time and 88 is no picnic, especially since they keep tearing it up every year! I used to commute from Naperville to Park Ridge back when the I-PASS lanes were being built and I remember very well what horrible traffic is like! It's very stressful, especially when you have to get to daycare by 6:00 or if you have a function to attend on an evening during the work week.

What are some ways that we could improve our traffic situation?

Hi Jen Brower, please see Clusterbuster's above post for ideas for improving our traffic situation.