Politics & Government
Officials Want to Put Route 31 on a Road Diet
Plan would reduce the number of lanes from four to two and create bike paths on each side of the street and, in a few places, center medians on Route 31 between Fabyan Parkway and the Government Center.
Geneva officials proposed a plan Monday night that would put Route 31 on a "road diet."
The plan wouldn't make the stretch between Fabyan Parkway and the Kane County Government Center any thinner, but it would reduce the number of lanes from four to two in order to create a combination of bicycle paths and center green medians.
The idea was presented at Monday night's Geneva City Council meeting by former Kane County Transportation Director Phil Bus with the idea that, if council members generally were in favor of looking closer at the option, staff would add it to the city's goals for the coming year.
Geneva aldermen Tom Simonian and Craig Maladra spearheaded the initial investigation because that part of Route 31 is in the 5th Ward and because both had received questions from constituents about the safety of the road.
The state of Illinois plans to resurface Route 31, and officials felt now would be the time to approach the Illinois Department of Transportation with notion of changing the configuration from four to two lanes.
"It makes sense to coordinate this with IDOT resurfacing," Public Works Director Dan Dinger told the council. "The road pavement does vary from 38.5 to 40 feet, so it’s going to be working with IDOT to make this happen. The lanes now are 10 feet each, and bike paths would be 5 feet on both sides. You’re not going to get a wider lane, what you’re going to get is more space (on the sides.)"
More space for bicycles and for garbage trucks, which would occupy the bicycle lanes when they pick up the trash.
The plan calls for an east-west bicycle path to extend from Route 31 to the island at Fabyan Forest Preserve, which ultimately would allow bicyclists to cross a bridge and access the bicycle path along the east side of the Fox River.
The benefits of changing to two lanes, as Bus described them, include the following:
- Implements Geneva Bikeway plan / improves bike safety
- Maintains Route 31 vehicle capacity of 30,000 vehicles per day
- Strengthens the connection to Fox River Trail
- Creates landscaped island and gateway at the South end of the proposed work area
- Creates bike / pedestrian lanes
"Anyone who uses the bike path knows that’s a glaring omission in the bike path trail," Alderman Mike Bruno said.
Bus talked about drivers having "white knuckle" driving experiences along that stretch of Route 31. A lot of that has to do with the speed of the traffic and the relatively slim lanes.
But Bus and others pointed out that the plan would not widen lanes. The hope is, however, that it would slow down, or "calm" traffic.
Dinges said there were concerns, however.
"One of our concerns is, will this be a traffic calmer?" he said. "You’re going to have a lot of space (on the right side of the road in both directions.) When you have two (lanes) there, it’s hard to drive."
In addition, "the landscape median adds more cost. That would be all ours," Dinges said. "As far as the signal at the crossing (for bicycles), do you put that mid-block or do you try to find an intersection like Fargo?"
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Alderman Chuck Brown pointed out that there would be several categories of "stakeholders" interested in the project, and Alderman Dean Kilburg said it should be the city's priority to consult with residents who live along that stretch of Route 31.
"It's essential they have an opportunity to state their opinion," Kilburg said. "I think it’s great we have ideas, but we need to garner buy-in. The interactions and support of the neighbors ought to be one of the initial steps before we get too far."
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Simonian agreed.
"If we get push back from the neighbors, in my opinion, it ends," he said.
The city of Geneva also intends to consult with the city of Batavia to see if officials there would like to extend Route 31's "diet" south of Fabyan.
Geneva aldermen voted unanimously Monday night to add the Route 31 Road Diet to its goals for the coming year. City staff members and Mayor Kevin Burns emphasized that the vote on Monday way simply to direct staff to look into the matter — several levels of approval and a public hearing would be necessary before a formal vote could be taken by the City Council.
