Oak Park's Madison 'Road Diet' Project Passes In Close Vote

OAK PARK, IL --- Oak Park village council members voted Tuesday by a narrow margin to move forward with the Madison Street Road Diet Project. The project, which scraped by with a 4-3 vote, would reduce Madison Street to one lane in either direction, reduce the speed limit to 25 mph, and add buffered bike lanes.

The so-called "road diet" aims to make Madison Street more amenable to pedestrians and bicyclists, but some trustees were worried about its impact on local traffic. Village Trustee Deno Andrews took to Facebook after the meeting and expressed his concerns about the impact the Madison Street Road Diet will have on traffic.

Andrews wrote that he chose to vote "no" after a recent traffic study showed that there would be a "5%-15% increase in traffic on adjacent streets." Andrews compared the forecasted amount of traffic to the current traffic on Roosevelt Road, which he called "a disaster."

Despite resistance, the Road Diet will move forward with a price tag of just over $6 million and an estimated completion date of 2020.

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