'No-Brainer': 4-Way Stop Pushed For Hinsdale Intersection
HINSDALE, IL – Weeks after an online petition started, Hinsdale is ready to make a local intersection a four-way stop.
The intersection of Fourth and Grant streets is near St. Isaac Jogues Catholic School, Madison Elementary School and Hinsdale Middle School. Fourth has stop signs, but Grant does not.
At Tuesday’s Village Board meeting, Trustee Luke Stifflear said the village should have a high hurdle for adding four-way stops.
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“We get a lot of these requests,” he said. “I don’t think we can approve every request because if there are stop signs at every intersection in this village, nobody’s going to follow the directional signs anymore.”
But he said a four-way stop at Fourth and Grant makes sense, citing crash statistics and the closeness of schools. According to the village, three crashes have occurred at the intersection in the last six months and five over the last five years.
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“There is a great amount of schoolchildren, especially at very concentrated times of the day,” he said.
He said St. Isaac has added about 50 students over the last year.
Other trustees indicated support.
“This is a no-brainer,” Trustee Neale Byrnes said.
Residents who live near the intersection are pushing for a four-way stop. A couple of weeks ago, one of them created a Change.org petition, which has gathered more than 500 signatures.
“There’s just been a significant acceleration of dangerous events that have happened at this intersection over the last year,” said resident Tyson Stewart, who grew up there and bought his parents’ house a dozen years ago. “We have video evidence that basically shows every single morning there’s concerning near accidents with the sheer number of cars and pedestrians.”
Another resident, Greg Patricoski, also backed a four-way stop.
“I’ve witnessed accidents. I’ve almost been in accidents myself,” he said. “This is a unique intersection in that it does not matter the experience of the driver.”
Trustees planned to vote on the stop at their next meeting.
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