Wilmette Bikers Share Your Insight With IDOT

Residents are asked to take a short online survey to help IDOT in the development stages of the bike transportation plan.

  The Illinois Department of Transportation is looking for input on their new bike transportation plan. The Illinois Bike Transportation Plan will follow the Long Range Plan’s theme of Transforming Transportation for Tomorrow and will provide the Department with policies, best practices and strategic direction for implementing a sustainable, multimodal vision for Illinois. Take IDOT's online survey about the bike plan In order to gain input from as many stakeholders as possible, the Plan will set up an advisory group with other state agencies (IDNR and others) and bicycling stakeholders such as (but not limited to) the League of Illinois Bicyclists, the Illinois Greenways and Trails Council, and state Metropolitan Planning Organizations (…

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Holiday 'Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over' Crackdown Begins

Increased DUI and seat belt enforcement starts this week.

Information provided by the Wilmette Police Department: Wilmette Police Department today announced its plans for the 2012 Holiday “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over/Click It or Ticket” Crackdown. The intensified enforcement effort against drunk drivers and seat belt law violators underscores the disproportionate number of traffic deaths caused by alcohol and failure to buckle up. The stepped-up enforcement will begin Dec. 17 and run through New Year’s Eve. Enforcement efforts will concentrate on the deadly nighttime hours between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. According to data from the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the midnight to 3 a.m. timeframe is the deadliest time on …

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Wilmette Police Arrest Four in Thanksgiving ‘Drive to Survive’ Campaign

There were 63 percent fewer motor vehicle crash fatalities reported statewide during the holiday weekend.

Wilmette police say they arrested four drivers during the department’s two-week-long Thanksgiving traffic enforcement step up. The village also “experienced a 9 percent decrease in the total number of traffic crashes” during the two-week period compared to the same time frame a year earlier, according to a police press release. Police arrested one person for driving under the influence, two for “zero tolerance” (underage drivers with alcohol in their system) and one for driving on a suspended license. They also issued 50 traffic citations and 17 warnings. The “Thanksgiving mobilization”, which lasted from Nov. 12 through Nov. 25, was the first of six statewide traffic enforcement operations in which the Wilmette police will participate …

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Wilmette Police Stepping Up Traffic Enforcement Thanksgiving Weekend

The operation will continue through Nov. 25.

Wilmette Police Stepping Up Traffic Enforcement for Thanksgiving

The operation began Monday and will continue for two weeks.

The Wilmette Police Department is participating in a stepped-up traffic enforcement campaign that will target speeders, drunken drivers and those not wearing seat belts. The “Thanksgiving mobilization” began Monday and will continue through Nov. 25. The push is the first of six traffic enforcement operations taking place between now and the end of next September, in which Wilmette police will participate in a statewide effort. According to an Illinois Department of Transportation press release, which urged people to buckle their seat belts and drive safely, there were eight driving-related fatalities and over 800 injuries during last year’s Thanksgiving holiday. “This stepped-up enforcement throughout Illinois will remind drivers that …

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Poll Results: Willow Road Widening

The overwhelming majority of close to 100 poll participants agree it is time to widen Willow Road from two to four lanes.

Winnetka-Glencoe Patch readers who responded to our unscientific poll last week regarding Northfield’s approval of widening Willow Road overwhelmingly agree with the decision.    The vote by the Village of Northfield June 18 gave the green light to an intergovernmental agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) to widen Willow Road to four lanes between Waukegan Road and the Eden’s Expressway.   Currently, the 1.2 miles of roadway is two lanes wide and causes serious congestion for nearby residents and commuters, in addition to being deemed one of the most dangerous areas in Northfield.   Of the 97 people who participated in the poll which asked "Are you in Favor of Expanding Willow Road to Four Lanes," 83 percent of …

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Wilmette and Kenilworth Police Prepare for New Year's Eve

Kenilworth will have extra cars on patrol to stop drunken drivers thanks to a state grant.

Kenilworth police received an early New Year’s gift – state money to further help curb drunken drivers on holidays, which comes in handy on New Year’s Eve. Amid all the other party-night preparations for public-safety departments in both Kenilworth and Wilmette, a grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation enables Kenilworth to pay the required overtime pay for an extra patrol officer. “We got the traffic-safety grant from IDOT for six holidays,” said Kenilworth Sgt. Dave Miller. “If not, it would have to come from village coffers. A lot of suburbs apply for the grant. To be awarded it, you have to meet certain criteria. It’s set up to look for seat-belt violations and DUI’s. Ours will be for DUI enforcement.” Kenilworth is …

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Letters to the Editor

Letter to the Editor: Willow Road Debate Continues, Northfield Has 'Change of Heart'

One Glenview resident sounds off on the expansion controversy.

Dear Glenview Patch Editor: At the last Willow Road Community Advisory Group (CAG) meeting in late September, it seemed that Northfield stakeholders have had a noticeable "change-of-heart" regarding this project. The meeting focused on the Illinois Department of Transportation's proposed toolbox of safety characteristics that the new and improved Willow Road could feature, such as pedestrian countdown signals or curbed medians. Throughout the discussion of each tool, there seemed to be a shift in Northfield's long and loudly stated priority of safety, which we all want, towards an increasing concern about "cosmetics". I was surprised and a little bit confused that Northfield CAG members appeared to change their concerns to how the safety …

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Earl Weiss

3:13 pm on Thursday, November 10, 2011

>>Donald Whiteman 3:06pm on Thursday, November 10, 2011 According to IDOT's own data ..........the two lane with median option scored a higher safety rating than the four lane with median. In fact, it had the highest safety rating. The three lane, preferred option, was rated only slightly less safe than the two lane option, but it was rated higher than the four lane option.   more ›

IDOT: Backup Batteries, Generators To Power Traffic Lights In Outages

Meeting of village officials focuses on communication to assist each other.

Communication also took the forefront in Thursday's meeting of more than 40 mayors and managers from a dozen north suburban communities when power outages impact traffic lights. State Sen. Susan Garrett (D-Lake Forest) sought to build consensus on how the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) could help the communities at the meeting held in Lake Forest. Read more: Summer storm photos throghout the North Shore Steve Travia, IDOT's bureau chief for traffic in the Chicago area, told the group of the improvements his department is making to install more equipment with backup batteries and the ability to run on generators.  “About 20 percent of the traffic lights in our six county area (including Cook and Lake Counties) are equipped now…

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Bryce Robertson

7:55 pm on Monday, August 1, 2011

Or we put roundabouts in and do away with traffic signals (and running red lights) all together? Seems to work in the UK pretty well... the only roundabouts with traffic lights there are high volume ones in major cities (i.e. you would see one at the equivalent of the Circle). We have one (albeit small) by our house in HP and it works wonders (sans the time a UPS truck beached itself because the …   more ›

Willow Road Could See Roadwork by 2015

With recommendations on the table for two or four lanes, Willow Road may be ready for the next step.

Officials and residents from four North Shore suburbs butted heads over a 1.2-mile stretch of road during Thursday night's meeting at New Trier Township High School in Northfield. The issue could see a resolution within the next year and a green light within the next four years.  Since 2009 the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has studied two miles of Willow Road, from Waukegan Road to Interstate Highway 94, to give reports on traffic flow, preliminary engineering and the environment. Earlier: Patch's story on Willow Road from September 2010 Throughout the course of the study, a state-mandated Community Advisory Group (CAG) made up of 18 community leaders and residents from Northfield as well as seven from Glenview, Northbrook …

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