School Zone Improvements


School Zone Improvements


Students crossing the street in a cross with detached bumpouts narrowing the crossing distance
Overview

Schools are anchors in Chicago’s neighborhoods and communities. They serve as local landmarks, meeting locations, and the sites where tomorrow’s leaders learn and play. Traffic safety is critical to our schools and surrounding neighborhoods. CDOT is deploying a comprehensive neighborhood-level effort surrounding schools by building complementary safety improvements to create a better, more walkable environment.

Schools and surrounding areas selected for improvements are based on a combination of crash analysis, community input, and consideration of street context where the strategy would work best. CDOT analyzed crash data to identify schools with the highest number of severe crashes, crashes involving youth, and pedestrian crashes within a quarter mile of the school grounds. Additionally, CDOT obtained data from Chicago Public Schools on locations of concerns and met with school staff to understand safety conditions. CDOT has implemented this strategy at ten schools. 

Infrastructure Highlights

Pedestrian upgrades are designed to meet the safety needs of an individual school. Typically improvements include the following;

Curb bump-outs
Curb Bump-outs

Make streets narrower to slow down drivers and shorten crossing distance for people walking.

Raised crosswalk
Raised Crosswalks

Encourage drivers to slow down before the crosswalk and enable people walking to cross the street at sidewalk level.

Refuge islands
Refuge Islands

Make it easier to find gaps in traffic when crossing a two-way street.

Project Locations

Each School shown on the map below represents multiple safety upgrades to neighborhood streets. Student access is improved at all intersections surrounding the school with crossing upgrades and enhanced signage. Traffic calming, reduced speed limits, and truck restrictions may also be included. The number of partner schools continues to grow and more projects will be rolled out in the coming years.