Update 10/4/24, 12:00 PM: In related news, Ald. Maria Hadden (49th), whose district includes Glenwood Avenue north of Devon Avenue (6400 N.), recently released the results of a survey on a Chicago Department of Transportation proposal. The project would convert the half mile of Glenwood Avenue between Pratt Avenue (6800 N.) and Devon to a one-way northbound street with southbound contraflow bicycle lanes.
Yesterday this email arrived. "I'm a reader of Streetsblog in Edgewater, Chicago," the sender said. "According to witnesses in my community, a pedestrian was struck by a garbage truck [driver] at Glenwood [Avenue, 1400 W.] and Elmdale [Avenue, 6000 N.] on September 30, shortly after school started at nearby Senn high school [5900 N. Glenwood Ave.] Lots of parents from Senn and Peirce Elementary School [1423 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., 5600 N.] were around at the time and witnessed the accident and its aftermath. To be clear, I am not one of those people."
"Apparently, the pedestrian was a Senn parent and was taken to the hospital by ambulance," they added. "I'm a Peirce parent, and many of us are very concerned about the incident. We do not know how the pedestrian is today."
I reached out to the Chicago Police Department and News Affairs confirmed the incident, which took place last Monday around 8:10 a.m. "Officers responded to a traffic crash and found a 35-year-old female in the crosswalk was struck by a truck [driver] turning southbound." Since Elmdale is a one-way eastbound street here, presumably the motorist was heading east when they made a southbound right turn and failed to yield to the woman crossing the street.
According to CPD, the victim was taken to St. Francis Hospital and was initially listed in fair condition. While the truck driver broke the law here, "No citations were issued on the scene."
It's lucky that the woman wasn't more seriously injured or killed. But it's disturbing that a turning truck driver failed to yield to a person in a crosswalk, particularly soon after the start of a nearby school. "Many of us at Peirce are very worried about pedestrian and bike safety along the Glenwood Greenway, especially during the busy school drop off/pick up times," the reader said. She was referring to the popular side street bike-pedestrian-priority route, on which this intersection is located.
"We've been in contact with the 48th ward Alderwoman Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth (as well as the prior alderman's office [Harry Osterman]), Senn administration, and Senn [Local School Council] to improve safety conditions in that corridor. Some progress is being made, but oh so slowly. We've been worried that someone would get hurt or killed."
Streetsblog has reached out to Ald. Manaa-Hoppenworth and CDOT for an update on what, if any safety improvements are currently planned on the corridor, and will update this post if we hear from them.
Update 10/4/24, 12:45 PM: 48th Ward Chief of Staff Nicole Granacki provided the following update on safety efforts on Glennwood and elsewhere in the district.
New pedestrian safety initiatives planned or proposed in 48th Ward
"We are working hard to address long-standing pedestrian safety concerns throughout the ward, and Glenwood is a major focus of that work," Granacki said. "Our office has secured half a million dollars from CDOT for pedestrian safety infrastructure improvements around Senn High School. We are currently in the design phase, and will be implementing the improvements before the start of the fall 2025 school year. The preliminary plans include a raised intersection at Glenwood and Thorndale [Avenue 5930 N.] and a raised intersection at Glenwood at Ardmore [Avenue, 5800 N.], creating a school zone look/feel, slowing down [drivers], and make the street safer for families walking and biking to school."
"We can't talk about pedestrian safety in the ward without talking about nearby Granville [Avenue, 6200 N., where a traffic calming initiative is proposed from Western Avenue (2400 W.) to Lake Michigan (about 930 W.)]. Granville is a traffic crash hot spot, ranking in the top 5-10 percent of traffic crashes on residential streets in Chicago. Along with the 40th [Ald. Andre Vasquez] and 50th [Ald. Debra Silverstein] wards, we have secured funding from CDOT for a traffic calming project on Granville that would slow down vehicles, prevent injuries, and ultimately save lives. With a large number of both schools and older adults in the area, protecting our students and seniors is our top priority. We're encouraging neighbors to join us for an important community meeting to discuss traffic calming concepts on Granville on Tuesday, October 15 at 6pm at Misericordia. The flyer is attached."
"In addition, the 48th Ward recently voted to fund four pedestrian safety projects in other parts of the ward through our Participatory Budgeting process," Granacki concluded. "Voting wrapped up last night! We are thrilled to be able to bring participatory budgeting to the 48th ward for the first time, and the vote outcome makes it clear that pedestrian safety is a top priority for 48th ward neighbors. Neighbors voted to fund the following pedestrian safety projects." These projects are listed below (Granacki's words):
- Decorative crosswalks on Sheridan Road at the intersections of Rosemont [Avenue, 6300 N.], Granville, Glenlake [Avenue, 6100 N.], Thorndale, and Ardmore to improve visibility of pedestrians.
- Inlaid thermoplastic on Sheridan Road at the intersections of Granville and Thorndale.
- Bump-outs at Olive [Avenue, 5630 N.] and Glenwood.
- Bump-outs [to shorten pedestrian crossing distances and "daylight" intersections] at Gregory [Street, 5530 N.] and Clark [Street, about 1530 W. here.]
- Bump-outs at Elmdale and Magnolia [Street, 1230 W. here.]
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