Potential Maple-Beech redesign?

In talking to residents along Maple and Beech streets (and cross streets) during my campaign for alderman in 2017, I heard one thing loud and clear: residents don’t feel safe living, driving, walking, biking, or letting their children play in front yards along these one-way, two-lane “urban highways.”

Traffic is too fast on these streets, I heard, and there are too many preventable, severe crashes and a lot more near misses. Backing out of a driveway onto Maple or Beech feels like one is taking one’s life into one’s hands, and even pulling out from a cross street can be quite stressful, I was told.

Parents said they don’t feel safe letting their kids ride their bikes on these streets, or even letting them cross the street on foot to access Oak Park and Wagner Park, or to get to a friend’s house.

Soon after taking office last January, I worked with the Department of Public Works to study safety issues along this corridor, looking at the causes of crashes there. This past summer, a number of small, but important, improvements were made, including improving visibility at the cross street intersections along Maple and Beech, and adding street markings on some particularly dangerous cross street intersections. But to slow down traffic and really improve the quality of life in this residential neighborhood, I believe the design of Maple and Beech themselves must be improved.

To that end I asked the Department of Planning & Community Development to propose several design concepts to improve safety along this corridor. The following design concepts — and that’s all they are at this point: concepts — are presented here in no particular order:

Option #1

This option would see Maple and Beech streets remain one-way streets, but be reduced to one vehicular travel lane and one semi-protected bike lane. Traffic could only go as fast as vehicles in front of them.

Option #2

This option would see Maple and Beech streets reverted back to two-way streets, as they were prior to 1974. Traffic could only go as fast as vehicles in front of them.

Option #3

This option would see Maple and Beech streets remain one-way streets, but be reduced to one vehicular travel lane with bump-outs containing trees. Traffic could only go as fast as vehicles in front of them.

Option #4

This option would see Maple and Beech remain as they currently are: one-way, two lane streets.

No decision of how, or even if, to redesign Maple and Beech streets here in Ward 2 will be made any time soon. More study and consideration, which most certainly would include public input, is needed. But now is the time to begin the conversation on how it might be accomplished. 

I would love to hear what you think about these options, or any other ideas or questions you might have. Feel free to email me at will (at) electwillstewart.com