WAKE UP, IDOT (AND LA GRANGE ... AND MC COOK ... AND BROOKFIELD)

Now that La Grange has the attention of its local legislators and the Illinois Department of Transportation (which just reduced speed on 47th Street through La Grange), it's finally time to do something about the horrible, dangerous and potentially deadly four-way stop sign intersection of 47th Street and East/Eberly Avenue.

I, for one, travel through that cluster-you-know-what every day, sometimes 10 times a day. And everytime I do, I thank God I made it out alive. Many licensed drivers, I have come to learn, are crazy and simply don't care who they cut off or ignore as long as they get where they're going. Harumph!

SOMETHING needs to be done or sooner or later another Cari Cook- type tragedy will plague La Grange, Brookfield and McCook once again.

Congressional folks such as the father-son Lipinski tag team and some state lawmakers often express frustration passed on by constituents about negotiating one's way (safely) through the crossing, which is further complicated by a set of freight railroad tracks in both directions interrupting traffic flow on both roadways.

Suggestions have ranged from building an underpass or overpass, which would require massive amounts of funding, to putting up stoplights to control the intersection.

People traveling through 47th and East/Eberly (the name Brookfield calls it), especially during the morning and evening rush, either don't seem to remember or don't seem to care what they learned in Driver's Ed. or the last time they took a test on the Rules of the Road to renew their license. Like which lane of vehicles goes first.

Solutions have ranged from totally shutting down the intersection in all directions (by a onetime Brookfield mayor) to letting La Grange take over its stretch of 47th (which they are asking for), so it can reduce the lanes to one in each direction and a turn lane to soften the traffic flow and vastly improve safety for pedestrians and homeowners.

One of the ironies is that many people simply avoid the intersection. Parent and Village Board Trustee Bill Holder restricts his daughter from going near there until she is a more experienced driver. Moreover, most parents prohibit their kids to walk or bike to Sedgwick Park or the Park District of La Grange recreation center.

I like Trustee Mike Horvath's out-of-the-box suggestion, to shut down westbound and eastbound traffic on 47th by ending the road just west of East Avenue, allowing eastbound access to southbound East Avenue and emergency access through that same turn lane, but leaving westbound traffic to use East or Eberly and north and south bound traffic to keep going to get where they are going.

While that, too, seems like something that either would take years to accomplish or be a financial and logistical nightmare, I believe other, lower-cost, short-term solutions will give everyone the biggest bang for their buck.

First off, every community and entity involved needs to stop passing the buck, saying it's the state's decision or any one of the three municipalities' worry. They need to sit down and hammer out some ideas to improve safety NOW.

So, this is what I think (and I'd like to know your opinion, too):

1. Hold a public meeting at Sedgwick Park or in a neighboring parking lot to watch and monitor the traffic flow, to let everyone see what's wrong. Maybe driving education is best, but I doubt it.

2. Erect temporary traffic lights at the intersection, jointly funded by La Grange, McCook, Brooklfield, IDOT, some federal stimulus funds, the railroad, perhaps others like the nearby sports facility The Max in McCook or the Park District of Las Grange -- whose recreation center on East Avenue is isolated, landlocked, tough to get to except by car or bus.

3. Commission a traffic study on the effectiveness of the lights, whether people obey them like they don't do for the stop signs. Then make them permanent until an over- or under-pass is built, or take 'em down if they aren't doing any good.

Bicyclists beware, as there are no sidewalks south of 47th on East or on the north or south sides of 47th in McCook or west of 9th Avenue in La Grange. That's another problem, but I digress.

4. If traffic lights cannot be done, then put a traffic cop (again, jointly funded) right in the middle of the intersection, like old-timers say used to be posted at La Grange Road and Ogden Avenue back in the day. That small action could actually teach motorists the right way to drive, stop, proceed and let others go first.

5. Step up joint municipal enforcement there to ticket the hundreds if not thousands of drivers how to properly an legally operate a motor vehicle.

Just do something. Now instead of later.