The Edens Spur has seen a lot of traffic accidents over the past few weeks. Now, in an effort to increase safety during this construction season, IDOT has reconfigured the spur in an effort to reduce crashes.
I was in the area on June 5, stuck in traffic on the surface streets, when three helicopters hovering over the Spur encouraged us to reroute even before noticing traffic being forced off the highway at Waukegan Road. I was also in the area June 13, when the wail of emergency vehicles heading to the accident around lunchtime convinced me that something severe had happened.
Commenters to the Chicago Tribune story offer, as usual, a melange of insight, knee-jerk same-old-same-oldisms, and a few good ideas for how to fix the Spur and its eastbound single-lane merge onto the Edens. I especially like the idea of taking the U.S. 41 merge down from three lanes to two, providing more room for the interstate folks to merge. As commenters note, 41 rarely has enough traffic to require three lanes at this point. If southbound 41 is backed up, it’s because the Edens itself is backed up. Furthermore, the Spur’s bridge already has enough room to support two lanes.
Hey IDOT: Any ideas on how to permanently fix the Spur?
Filed under: Commuting, Edens Spur
