On Monday evening, a truck driver fatally struck Chance Hunnicutt, 13, as he was bicycling in the far-southwest Chicago suburb of Manhattan, Illinois. In the wake of the tragedy, the village's mayor is calling for safer street designs.
Manhattan is a town of roughly a thousand residents. It's located about 43 miles from the Chicago Loop, at the outbound terminus of Metra's SouthWest Service route.
According to the initial police report, on Monday, October 20, shortly before 5:35 p.m., Chance was bicycling near the intersection of East North Street and South State Street. These are two-lane roads, but this intersection, in the downtown business district, is part of the US-52 route between Manhattan and Joliet, which has heavy truck traffic.
According to the initial report, when police arrived at the intersection they found the boy unresponsive beneath the truck. The Will County Sheriff's Police and the county coroner's office were called to the crash scene.
This afternoon, Manhattan Police Chief Ryan Gulli told Streetsblog no citations or charged have been issued yet. The department is working with the Illinois State Police's Traffic Crash Reconstruction Unit to try to determine exactly what happened.
An article by Lauren Traut in Patch this afternoon mentions that a GoFundMe was launched to support Chance's family. The fundraiser describes him as "full of life, laughter, and love... Chance’s light touched everyone who knew him — his smile, his kindness, his energy will never be forgotten." He leaves behind a twin brother. As of Wednesday evening, more than $37,000 had been raised.
Gulli said there is footage of the incident. He told Streetsblog that Chance, who was riding to meet up with friends, was heading southeast through the intersection prior to the crash. He police chief added that the trucker was also heading southeast before making an eastbound left turn onto North when the collision occurred. There is no stoplight at the intersection, and there are no stop signs for southeast-northeast traffic.
According to Gulli, US-52 was not designed to handle its current level of commercial vehicles. "Many years ago it was built for buggies and cars, but it has not changed with the times to meet 2025 needs," he said. He added that he's trying to set up a meeting with the Illinois Department of Transportation to discuss options for a safer road design. "One fatality is too many."
At Tuesday night's Manhattan village meeting, the board approved hiring SAQ Consultants to look into safety improvements like pedestrian crosswalks, the police chief said. "Obviously, the timing was not great," he said.
Manhattan Mayor Mike Adrieansen posted about the case on Facebook yesterday. "Our children deserve safe streets, protected crossings, and a town where they can move freely without fear," he wrote. "I know many residents have concerns about semi-truck traffic, especially near schools, parks, the library, and the community center. We have shared those same concerns with the Illinois Department of Transportation."
"Even though Route 52 is a State road, the Village has taken steps to improve its safety," the mayor added, listing the following actions Manhattan has taken.
• "Met with the Illinois Department of Transportation to address our concerns, including adding Rt. 52 as a size-restricted truck route"
• "Our engineer is working on plans for crosswalks in the downtown area."
• "IDOT working on phase 1 engineering at the Baker Road intersection to slow traffic coming into town."
• "Installed additional school zone signs near St. Joesph School."
• "Commissioned a traffic study to include a truck bypass around our downtown."
• "Applied for a grant to improve safety on Rt. 52."
• "Implemented a dedicated truck enforcement program."
Police Chief Gulli concluded. "The entire town of Manhattan is grieving – this is the second child we lost in a week." He noted that Danny Bayles, 11, died on Thursday, October 16, after suffering a medical emergency.
Read the Patch article about a vigil being held tomorrow, Thursday, October 23, to remember both boys.
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