CHICAGO (CBS) — People living on Chicago’s Southwest Side say they’ve had enough of dangerous crashes in their area.
The crashes hit Pulaski Road in the communities of West Elsdon and West Lawn. A beloved Chicago Public Schools teacher was killed in a collision on that stretch of Pulaski Road earlier this year.
Residents walked along Pulaski Road Wednesday evening to stop unsafe traffic.
“We’re surveying the entire length of Pulaski from the I-55 bridge at 40th all the way south to the Belt Railway Bridge at 71st,” says Dixon Galvez-Searle of the neighborhood group Southwest Collective, “and the reason we’re doing that is because there there have been a lot of crashes.”
According to Ald’s office, there have been more than 1,500 accidents on that stretch. Silvana Tabares (23rd). Now the community group the Southwest Collective is conducting a neighborhood survey and a series of walks along Pulaski Road to hear from residents about what’s happening on their corner.
“Several people have been hit while just crossing the street – doing what we should all be able to do: walking around our neighborhood,” Galvez-Searle said. “We still have this, essentially, highway through the middle of our neighborhood.”
The neighborhood advocates hope to pass on the feedback they receive to the Illinois and Chicago transportation departments so they can make some changes.
“Do a bit of a road diet,” says Michel Podgers of Better Streets Chicago. “Widening the sidewalks, improving crosswalks, slowing down traffic — would really make a lot of improvements.”
The advocates were joined by a representative from the Chicago Department of Transportation, who said projects are already underway to make the area safer.
“Basically, we want to bring some traffic calming features out here to encourage people to naturally drive slower and a little bit more safely,” said CDOT’s Carl Schwarzer.
The intersection of 63rd Street and Pulaski Road was one of the stops the group made during their walk. A stretch of Pulaski Road near 63rd Street has seen several major and even fatal accidents this year alone.
In March, Charles Mills, teacher assistant for Chicago Public Schools was killed during a hit-and-run cross Pulaski Road there. Just weeks later, a car hit a business at the busy intersection.
The people who inspected the roadway on Wednesday evening hope such tragedies will never happen again.
“Cars drive fast, cars can drive recklessly – and we’ve reinforced that on many of our walks,” Galvez-Searle said. “We want to make sure that all of these voices are taken seriously.”
