Stalled Red Gate Traffic Signal Pact Gets Final Green Light

St. Charles North High School students and faculty, and the residents of the neighborhood to the north, can expect to see a change on Red Gate Road when classes resume in August: A turn lane and traffic signals at the school’s north entrance.

The St. Charles City Council voted 9-1 on Monday to approve an intergovernmental agreement between the city and the St. Charles Community Unit School District 303 over work that includes installing turn lanes and a traffic signal at Red Gate Road and River Ridge Drive.

Ward 2 Alderwoman Rita Payleitner cast the sole dissenting vote after arguing a week earlier that the district should pay more for the installation of traffic signals, an issue the district had negotiated as a safety concern since after the opening of Red Gate Bridge in mid-December.

The council’s approval of the pact came less than a week after the St. Charles Community Unit School District 303 Board of Education approved it without discussion.

But the agreement is significantly different from the one the city and school district first negotiated, in which the district would have paid up to $250,000 — or about half the cost of the project.

The board of education rejected the initial agreement after board member James Gaffney Jr. led the charge against the pact, which had been brokered at the request of Superintendent Dr. Donald Schlomann, who was concerned about safety at the high school’s Red Gate Road entrance as traffic there increased starting in mid-December with the opening of the Red Gate Bridge.

Gaffney’s chief complaint was that the city could have installed the traffic lights for far less money if it had done the work in conjunction with the bridge project. He also cited a study he claimed justified installation of the traffic signals at the time the bridge was built.

City officials and a copy of the study he mentioned, however, indicate the traffic signal would not be warranted until traffic volume on the road surged to a level not expected until 2030.

In the end, the city and school district re-brokered the agreement, with the school district agreeing to pony up  $125,000 toward installation of a right-turn lane into St. Charles North High School from eastbound Red Gate Road. The stipulation puts the full expense of the traffic signal on the city.

City and school district officials have noted that the majority of St. Charles North students and their families do not live in St. Charles, and therefore do not pay city taxes. That was part of the rationale for the school district’s contribution toward the traffic signal, whose installation, apart from the school district’s request, would not otherwise have been warranted for another 17 years.

Related:

• June 6, 2013: Red Gate Light Drives Wedge Between St. Charles, District 303

• May 13, 2013: St. Charles School Board Dumps Traffic Signal for North High

• April 29, 2013: City, District 303 to Meet on Red Gate Traffic at St. Charles North

• Dec. 16, 2012: Red Gate Bridge Opens on St. Charles’ North End

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