By Marney Simon | Enterprise Staff
The village of Plainfield will engage is a special study over the winter months, seeking options to upgrade the pedestrian walkways along 135th Street.
Earlier this month, members of the board of trustees signed off on an agreement with Baxter and Woodman, to provide engineering services in the form of a study of the corridor. It’s part of a long-term plan to upgrade the village’s pedestrian network of sidewalks and pathways.
The Eaton Preserve Park on 135th is accessible by car, but has no dedicated pedestrian access to the park and trail. The village will pay for a special study of 135th Street, looking for ways to improve pedestrian access along the roadway. (Photo by Marney Simon)
“One of the areas that the board agreed to focus on was 135th Street, although I know from the board members that there is not agreement on what should occur as far as pedestrian crossings,” Director of Public Works Allen Persons said. “We have some challenges with access points, as far as vehicular crossings. It’s a heavily used commercial area, and the consensus was to take a step back and complete an engineering study and take a look at all the access points throughout that corridor, whether they be pedestrian or vehicular, to try and come up with some solutions to make that area better.”
The study will over 135th from Van Dyke to Plainfield-Naperville Road.
The project will analyze four main sections along the corridor, including cross streets, the intersection of 59 and 135th, the west Norman Drain crossing, and adding pedestrian access across the DuPage River bridge. Connectivity could mean better pedestrian access to the Eaton Preserve Park.
“The goal of the project is to provide a list of recommended improvements and options along the corridor, so that the village can prioritize improvements, have budget numbers for those improvements, and then have them ready for potential grants in the future so that you know the costs of those improvements and can apply for some grant funding,” said Derek Wold from Baxter and Woodman.
The study will cost the village $58,000. But not all trustees felt the price tag was worth it.
“I don’t see the pedestrian desire to cross that intersection,” Trustee Brian Wojowski said of possible crossing improvements at 135th and Plainfield-Naperville Road, and leading to Eaton Preserve. “I rarely see any pedestrians walking [there]. They drive to the park over there, they take pictures by the barn, that’s a used site but going east of that, I don’t think it’s worth $60,000… Even if the study was to say that we could do X, Y, and Z, you’d still have to get the property owners to consent to that. Not knowing if they will or not, I think it’s just a colossal waste of village funds.”
Trustee Cally Larson echoed that sentiment, noting that she’d like to see pedestrian connectivity into the downtown area higher on the list than areas along 135th that don’t attract as much foot traffic.
“I don’t see $60,000 being spent on this as the most valuable investment,” Larson said.
The trustees approved the agreement 4-2, with trustees Wojowski and Larson voting against the measure.
Field evaluations of the area will be completed this month. Baxter and Woodman will analyze funding opportunities and submit a draft report in January, with the final report deliverable by February.
A smaller scale study of the area was completed in 2015. The village plans to utilize the results from that work, in addition to the new study, to help narrow down specifics and provide more options in terms of costs and feasibility.