The temporary road closures implemented on and near the Illinois State University campus a year ago are here to stay.
The Normal Town Council heard a presentation from Ryan Otto, public works director, on the pedestrian and roadway campus safety initiative during Monday’s regular meeting.
The town received state funding for a safety study on campus after pedestrian deaths in 2021 and 2022. Over the next year, it launched a pedestrian and roadway safety initiative, gathered feedback on campus safety hot spots, implemented temporary fixes and shared more information with the campus community.
The intersection just west of Hewitt-Manchester residence halls saw arguably the largest transformation when the town implemented new traffic safety measures in September 2025.
Otto said the intersection saw some of the highest crash frequencies on campus before the transformation. He said it also was the scene of some of the most dangerous interactions for pedestrians on campus, despite the fact that north-west vehicle traffic is not heavy on School Street.
Pedestrian traffic outnumbered vehicle traffic across the street at that location — more than 10,000 pedestrians utilize it each day during the school year.
Based on feedback since the temporary closures were implemented, the town will allow turns onto School Street from westbound Mulberry. The same would be the case for northbound traffic turning right onto College Avenue.
Both would be redesigned to improve visibility of pedestrians for drivers making the turn. Unlike the segment of School Street that was closed because of speed carried through turns there, both turns that will return are tight enough that they encourage traffic to slow down to complete the turn more safely, Otto said.
Another safety project currently under construction is on Willow Street. Resurfacing is underway there, which Otto said should be done before winter weather arrives.
“It's hard to cross Willow. Speeds are high. There's no way to cross at Normal Avenue. There's a lot of the student body that lives north of Willow on Normal, and there were no pedestrian accommodations whatsoever other than a curb cut there,” said Otto.
In place of the left turn lane at the intersection with Normal Avenue, there would be a pedestrian refuge island to make a stopover for safer crossing.
The town already was awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All [SS4A] Grant to look at improving the major corridors on campus and in nearby areas. This includes College and Linden Street, as well as Raab Road.
“Those are all four-lane streets [two lanes in both directions] for the most part that have very low volumes comparatively to the volume capacity they have with four lanes, so we'll be looking at those, seeing how we can make things safer,” said Otto.
Otto added the town is working to secure “a couple other” federal grants that could help fund traffic safety improvements.
Though initially planned as temporary changes, many still-active roadway changes are expected to continue into the future.
“We still have pilots out, and they've kind of become permanent aspects because people like them so much at [the intersections of Broadway and Beaufort and Beaufort and Fell]. College-School-Mulberry is still up. We get lots of positive feedback on that. People feel far safer, and they have really outperformed what we expected,” said Otto.
Other business
- The council approved a resolution to accept water treatment plant chemical bids for the next year. A list of vendors will provide chemicals used for the water treatment process, including carbon dioxide, aluminum sulfate and fluoride. The total cost of the chemicals will be determined based on how much the town ends up using. Bidders apply based on what the estimated year’s supply of a given chemical is.
- Approved the $40,012 purchase of waste containers from Schaefer Systems International. The purchase will refill stock of 95- and 65- gallon containers supplied to residents for $60 each.
