Calumet City, located about 23 miles south of downtown Chicago, include many important regional transportation and recreation assets, including Interstate 94, the Burnham Greenway and multiple nature preserves. The multimodal environment presents some traffic safety issues, which prompted the creation of a safety action plan to improve traffic safety at three key locations. The locations were selected for their history of safety issues and to align with plans to make active transportation safer and more convenient. The three locations are:
- the intersection of Sibley Boulevard and Madison Avenue
- the intersection of Burnham Avenue with River Oaks Drive
- the Pulaski Street (154th Street) between the Burnham Greenway Trail and State Line Road
The goal of the plan was to identify needed safety interventions that address a high number of crashes at the two "hot spot" locations, and to create a complete street corridor plan for Pulaski Street. The corridor plan would address recent crashes as well as support travel, safety and economic development along the corridor, which includes Thornton Fractional North High School and a commercial district. The work included a survey of residents, through social media, as well as in-person engagement at the project locations.
The resulting safety action plan includes recommendations to reduce unneeded travel lanes to discourage speeding, improved intersection safety controls and safe and accessible sidewalk.
This project is a partnership through CMAP's technical assistance program.
