Traffic Court Moved To Rialto Square Theatre — Yes, The Rialto

JOLIET, IL — Will County Chief Judge Richard Schoenstedt announced Wednesday that the Will County Courthouse will be moving traffic court to the downtown Rialto Square Theater on North Chicago Street in order to ensure proper social distancing amid the new coronavirus pandemic.

"The Chief Judge reached out to representatives of the Rialto Square Theatre to see if that venue would be suitable and available for use as a traffic court," Wednesday's news release stated. "Representatives of the Rialto, Chief Judge Schoenstedt, Judges Ben Braun and Chrystal Gavlin, Circuit Clerk Andrea Chasteen, Trial Court Administrator Roger Holland and other court and facility staff reviewed the atrium and rotunda space of the theatre and determined that this space would be suitable for traffic court."

Starting on June 8, the atrium and rotunda of the Rialto Square Theatre at 102 N. Chicago St. will be used as the Traffic Court courtroom until further notice. This site will handle traffic cases from Joliet, Channahon, Crest Hill, Elwood, Lockport, Manhattan, Rockdale and Shorewood.

Instead of sending individual notices to litigants, the Circuit Court and the Circuit Clerk will use signs to direct people with traffic cases assigned to the Will County Courthouse to go one block north on Chicago Street to the Rialto, Schoenstedt's news release indicated.

"Because social distancing is one of the primary methods of mitigating the risk of spreading COVID-19, we need to make sure that we can accommodate social distancing in all of our courtrooms, particularly the courtroom with the heaviest volume of cases," Schoenstedt said.