This is an on-going issue.
Here’s the letter form BARGE on this issue:
Commissioner Randy Conner
Chicago Department of Water Management (CDWM)
Alderwoman Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth
Matthew Quinn
Deputy Commissioner
William Cheaks
Managing Deputy Commissioner
Cc: Claudia Abril
Nicole Granacki
Scott Curcio (BARGE Vice President)
Dan Nelson (BARGE Secretary)
June 24, 2025
Dear Commissioner Conner and Alderwoman Manaa-Hoppenworth,
Our Block Club, BARGE Neighbors, includes many of the street affected by the road closures due to sewer replacement.
I have spoken to our residents on Ardmore, Victoria, Wayne, Early, Glenwood, and Magnolia.
We have had two meetings, and this letter includes the range of questions and suggestions we have. Overall, our suggestions are focusing on how to reduce traffic going into residential areas, and how to improve flow of traffic on Broadway so that people are not seeking to escape to back roads.
We heartily believe it is still worth making changes, since there is more than a month left (potentially two?) and people’s cars are still getting smashed and loud, aggressive cars and drivers are racing through the neighborhood. A vast majority of them are not obeying stop signs – rolling through them at both Ardmore & Wayne and Victoria & Magnolia – creating a dangerous situation for pedestrians and residents (we are happy to share multiple videos of this with your team).
Please contact me with any questions, please update me on progress or any additional changes being considered, and please let me know if you would like to meet with us in person or on zoom.
Sincerely,
Sarah Zimmerman
5822 N. Wayne Ave.
Problem: Ridge traffic feedback going east on Ardmore: The morning traffic was calmer until people started driving through the road closure signs. The road closure signs on Glenwood and Ardmore get pushed aside.
Solution: Set up and maintain less moveable blockades. vs literally blocking the streets.
Problem: At the intersection of Elmdale WEST of Clark there is a lot of backed up traffic and people idling in the intersections.
Solution: Paint the street on the intersection, install large signs that say no gridlock/no blocking intersection/keep intersection clear.
Problem: People don’t understand how to use round-abouts, enter at 6pm and exit at 9, for example, going COUNTER CLOCKWISE, causing potential accidents.
Solution: Add signs indicating the circle/no left turn going into roundabout, etc. (The current signs are a square of yellow dots that mean nothing)
Problem: In general, the biggest problem is that people ignore the detour and continue to use side streets through our neighborhood, including large trucks that had used Ridge. Up to 18 wheelers are now using small side streets.
Solution: We have several ideas to make it easier and more convenient to follow the detour:
- Put up additional detour signs inside the neighborhood and trim branches around existing signs for increased visibility.
- Put up kids playing signs on Victoria and Ardmore
- Change the traffic light timing on Broadway so that traffic flows north and south more continuously. If the lights at Broadway/Hollywood and Broadway/Bryn Mawr were longer for north and south traffic, and allowed more cars to move up and down Broadway, it would reduce traffic flow.
- Change the GPS directions on Apple maps, Google maps, and Waze so that they direct people to follow the detour. Currently they are directing people down closed streets.
- Put flashing lights or bigger signs around STOP signs, as well as trimming branches/bushes and making sure they are visible. (funny sign idea: this means stop, not speed up)
- Re-Paint the speed bumps on all streets that have them and install temporary speed bumps on those that don’t (Streets of focus: Glenwood, Wayne, Early, Victoria, Ardmore, Magnolia).
- Ideally, there would be some traffic cops for a few days during rush hour from 8-10 and 4:30-6 or so to enforce the directions for a few days. We assume that many of the people coming through do this regularly.