CDOT Installing Left Turn Traffic Calming Infrastructure to Improve Pedestrian Safety
Following a pilot program along State Street, new safety treatments will be installed at 15 locations around Chicago
Erica Schroeder
312.744.0707 | Erica.Schroeder@cityofchicago.org
Newly installed left turn calming infrastructure on Ashland Avenue
CHICAGO – The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) has begun installing new safety features at intersections around the city to make crosswalks safer for people walking and reduce the chance of crashes and serious injuries. 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.
Left turns can be particularly dangerous, especially in dense areas where many people are walking, biking, and driving. 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 percent of crashes where a person walking was seriously injured or killed at an intersection in Chicago from 2017 to 2021.
The new installations come after a pilot project along State Street, where CDOT installed left turn traffic calming at five intersections between Hubbard and Ontario in 2019. After installation on State Street, studies found that 95 percent of drivers yielded to pedestrians, compared to 80 percent before the traffic calming treatments were installed. The City will continue to collect data and evaluate the effectiveness of the new installations.
Previously installed left turn calming infrastructure on State Street
The following intersections have a history of crashes involving left-turning motorists and will receive left turn calming treatments in 2022:
- N. Ashland Ave. & W. Wilson Ave.
- N. Ashland Ave. & W. Sunnyside Ave.
- N. Ashland Ave. & W. Montrose Ave.
- N. Ashland Ave. & W. Cullom Ave.
- W. Grand Ave. & N. Austin Ave.
- W. Division Ave. & N. Rockwell St.
- W. Chicago Ave. & N. Leavitt St.
- W. Chicago Ave. & N. Oakley Ave.
- W. Chicago Ave. & N. Paulina St.
- W. 63rd St. & S. Kedzie Ave.
- W. 63rd St. & S. California Ave.
- W. 63rd St. & S. Western Ave.
- W. 71st St. & S. Halsted St.
- W. 71st St & S. Ashland Ave.
- W. 71st St & S. Damen Ave.