The Town of Normal and Illinois State University [ISU] are preparing to make permanent plans and final recommendations over some temporary traffic safety fixes in areas surrounding the ISU campus.
Final recommendations, according to both organizations, include a mix of making some temporary pilot projects into permanent ones and adding completely new structures and signage.
Last year, the town and ISU launched a pedestrian and roadway campus safety initiative to address what survey respondents characterize as unsafe or dangerous traffic conditions around campus. Temporary fixes started in September of last year and were coupled with multiple community engagement sessions, the final of which was held Monday.
“Tonight, the purpose is to show where we’re at with evaluating some of the pilots that we’ve done throughout the campus area, as well as show some new concepts for other locations that we’ve not previously rolled out,” said Ryan Otto, the town’s director of public works and engineering.
Adam McCrary, ISU's director of environmental health and safety, said the sessions give everyone a voice.
“We are able to host this community engagement here at the university to bring in not just our campus community, but the community at large and give them the opportunity to come and see what’s we’ve developed as far as recommendations to increase pedestrian and roadway safety here and around campus,” he said.
The town received 1,500 responses to its initial survey, with community members telling the town they were concerned about lack of signage, distracted driving and congested intersections.
With the conclusion of community feedback opportunities, Otto said town staff and ISU will move to their final recommendations for traffic and pedestrian safety projects.
Intersection of College, Mulberry and School streets
One of the biggest points of contention before and after the town’s intervention in traffic, Otto and McCrary agreed, is the intersections of College Avenue and Mulberry and School streets. Heading eastbound along College Avenue, that intersection is where drivers split off from the westbound traffic to go around the Hewett-Manchester student residence halls.
“The responses have been somewhat mixed, although based on the number of pedestrians that use that facility every day, pedestrians are overwhelmingly in favor of it. They feel more safe,” said Otto. “Some of the negative things we’ve heard, we hope to address in the final design.”
The town’s solution was to barricade School Street, so right-hand turns are stopped for drivers going west on College Avenue.
McCrary said the final recommendation will not please everyone. Right now, he said the final recommendation will include partial reconstruction of the intersection and possibly keeping School Street closed between College and Mulberry.
Janet Tulley of Normal said she has strong feelings about the implementations.
“I’m not really fond … it really mucks up traffic and provides more of a barrier than anything, and there’s actually not a lot of pedestrian traffic right there at that corner,” she said.
Shirley Craig, also of Normal, also came to speak on the intersection.
“I’m both a driver and an avid walker … the big thing I was interested in as a pedestrian is the intersection,” she said. “Because they’ve eliminated the right-turn lanes where you at least knew somebody was going to come around, but there are cars that are ignoring the ‘no turn’ signs and going around it anyway, and that’s scary as a short pedestrian.”
She also said the intersection is now more inconvenient to travel to Uptown Normal as a driver than as a pedestrian.
“I’d like for traffic to be able to flow better again, but I’d like the pedestrians to be safe,” Craig said.
Intersections of Beaufort Street – Fell Avenue and Broadway Street
On the other hand, Otto and McCrary said there was a lot of positive feedback on the intersection of Beaufort and Broadway streets, or the intersection with the Marriott Hotel and Uptown Station on its corners.
Craig described the change from a two-way into a four-way stop as wonderful.
“Driving or walking, I avoided the whole intersection, it was horrible,” she said. “They’ve done a great job with that.”
Tulley agreed.
“The four-way stop … an amazing improvement has been made there for pedestrians and motorists,” she said.
McCrary said ISU and the town noticed the feedback shortly after it began as a pilot project, which is what turned it around so quickly to become a permanent fixture.
“We also did some curb bumpouts and made the intersections less wide, so that way people don’t have to cross as much, and it also slows traffic down,” he said. “So, that intersection has been greatly improved and while not immediately on campus, it impacts our campus community greatly.”
The stretch of Fell Avenue from Beaufort Street to Mulberry Street was also reconfigured. In all, 67 crashes were reported in the stretch of Fell Avenue between 2019 and 2023.
“Intersection is too large. Crosswalks are too long. Pedestrians crossing [and] 4-way stop makes right of way confusing and ambiguous,” one submitted survey response read.
Along Beaufort, on the corner of Watterson Towers, the street was reconfigured with protected bike paths, highly visible crosswalks and intersection markings.
Distracted driving
Normal and ISU also presented what was in their toolbox of solutions at the community engagement events for community and campus members to share their thoughts on possible future solutions.
A number of solutions aim to address distracted driving around campus.
“And that’s across the board, whether you’re a pedestrian on campus or you’re a driver navigation through the various streets on campus, we hear about distracted walking, distracted driving, distracted bicyclists,” said Otto. “So, we’re looking at how to address some of that. A lot of it will be education in terms of getting the word out there, and that’s a communitywide thing, too.”
Community members at the event were invited to share their preferences by voting for a number of possible solutions for pedestrian, bicyclists and drivers. The descriptions of the different options presented the timeline, cost and street type changes of the solution.
“And I’m providing my little sticker to reference what my preferences are in the toolbox in what they’re offering,” said Tulley.
She chose a high-visibility crosswalk, thinking of how busy the intersection of School and Willow streets are during rush hour.
“I think having paintings on the road may help drivers and pedestrians say, ‘Oh, this is where I’m supposed to cross,’ so that one seemed really logical to me and then it’s also a little bit of a quick fix that’s not too terribly costly.”
Other options for pedestrian solution included tightening corners at intersections and adding signage or left turn calming treatments to slow those turns.
