Key Elmhurst Panel Pushes Stop Signs At Intersection

ELMHURST, IL – An Elmhurst committee has recommended stop signs at a northside intersection that has seen several crashes in recent years.

The City Council is expected to vote on the issue at Monday's meeting. It nearly always goes along with the public safety committee's recommendations.

The intersection in question is Van Auken Street and Armitage Avenue, with yield signs now at Armitage.

In the last five years, the city identified four correctible crashes at Van Auken Street and Armitage Avenue – three of them in the last 11 months.

In a memo for the council meeting, the public safety committee clarified the city's approach to yield signs.

More than a year ago, the council enacted a policy that states that "in general, 'yield' signs will not be used as traffic control devices at residential intersections and should be replaced with 'stop' signs."

This week's memo said the policy was not meant to create change immediately, but rather provide guidance for neighborhood traffic studies being rolled out across the city.

Yield signs will be changed out earlier based on the number of crashes or other factors, the memo said.

The stop signs at Van Auken and Armitage were at the request of aldermen Michael Bram and Chris Jensen to do something at the intersection, which is in their Ward 3.