By Tim Hadac
Managing Editor
Southwest Chicago Post
Managing Editor
Southwest Chicago Post
Tactics designed to improve safety for pedestrians and motorists alike are starting to roll out on Pulaski Road—from 51st to 71st Streets, 23rd Ward Ald. Silvana Tabares told the Southwest Chicago Post earlier this month.
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| Ald. Silvana Tabares |
The most visible signs can be found at 59th and Pulaski and 65th and Pulaski—two sites that in months past have been hot-spots for intersection takeovers by drivers engaging in drifting and other car stunts.
Tabares announced the upgrades in concert with Chicago Department of Transportation officials—as well as 8th District Police Council Chairman Jason Huff--at a CAPS Beat 822 meeting held at Peck Elementary School, a short walk from 59th and Pulaski.
“The traffic-calming treatments include rubber speed bumps, vertical posts, and hardened centerlines at intersections that encourage drivers to take turns at safer speeds, prevent drivers from taking a diagonal path through the crosswalk and improve drivers’ visibility of people crossing the street,” Chicago Department of Transportation officials have said in a statement.
“Left turns can be particularly dangerous, especially in dense areas where many people are walking, biking and driving,” CDOT officials added. “Drivers typically take left turns at a faster speed than other maneuvers and the car frame may block the driver’s view of people in the crosswalk. Left turning motorists were involved in 40% of crashes where a person walking was seriously injured or killed at an intersection in Chicago from 2017 to 2021.”
While the CDOT improvements have been put in place—with more to come—Tabares told the Southwest Chicago Post, “A lot of this is also going to depend is going to depend on [state government] doing their part, as well. They’re projected to do arterial resurfacing on Pulaski next summer, by the end of 2025.” She said CDOT will attempt to coordinate their efforts with the state’s.
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| Traffic calming measures in place at 59/Pulaski. |
“This is an example of government working collaboratively with the community,” Tabares said of her efforts and CDOT’s. “The spike in traffic crashes, injuries and fatalities is appalling and needs to be addressed. Which is why my office is bringing the residents together along with engineers, traffic safety experts, and law enforcement to put together a game plan. We are putting it into motion.”
Tabares said she and the community will “keep the momentum going and continue to push for greater safety and hold reckless drivers accountable. I want to thank law enforcement and the city transportation experts for their work on this issue and being responsive. Pulaski is not a racetrack, and those who treat it as such are putting lives at stake. It’s unacceptable and we are going to do everything necessary to make this road as safe as possible, because that’s what residents deserve.”
More meetings
Nine days after Tabares and CDOT announced the traffic upgrades, 14th Ward Ald. Jeylú B. Gutiérrez hosted a meeting at Edwards Elementary School, a short walk from 47th and Pulaski, to announce a similar plan north of 51st and Pulaski.
Finally, the Southwest Collective community advocacy organization has organized a public meeting set for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17 in the auditorium at Curie High School, 4949 S. Archer.
All Southwest Siders are invited.
All Southwest Siders are invited.
The meeting may possibly be livestreamed at facebook.com/theswcollective.
Earlier this summer, the Southwest Collective partnered with the citywide advocacy group the Active Transportation Alliance to take a close look at Pulaski.
“We were outraged by the deaths of our neighbors, Jiekun Xu and Charlie Mills earlier this year, and want to see commonsense improvements to make Pulaski safer,” Southwest Collective officials said in a statement. “Over the spring and summer, SWC collected more than 500 responses to our online survey from our Southwest Side neighbors—and we conducted a series of eight in-person walks covering Pulaski from I-55 (40th St.) to the Belt Railway (71st St.). Now we’re ready to share the results, along with our recommendations.”
Besides the most immediate safety concerns for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians, an unsafe Pulaski has other effects in the community, SWC Transit Advocacy Steward Dixon Galvez-Searle told the Southwest Chicago Post.
“When we drive everywhere, when we don’t get out and walk the streets because we’re afraid, we don’t see neighbors face to face,” he said. “That affects the quality of life in the neighborhood.”
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