Skokie Adjusts Signal Timing At Key Intersection During Sabbath Hours

SKOKIE, IL — The Village of Skokie has changed signal timing at East Prairie Road and Dempster Street to accommodate religious observances and improve pedestrian safety at the busy intersection.

The change addresses a challenge some members of Skokie's local Jewish community faced during the Sabbath. Because of religious restrictions involving electricity use, pedestrians could not press the walk signal button, according to Mira Wolf, a member of the Skokie Valley Congregation. That could leave people with too little time to cross or trying to cross without a signal at all.

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Under the new setup, signals will run on fixed timings between 3 p.m. Friday and 9 p.m. Saturday, and pedestrian walk signals will appear automatically during those hours without the use of a push button.

The village said the new signal configuration was developed through coordination among village staff, the Illinois Department of Transportation, elected officials and faith leaders. The adjustment is intended to make crossings more predictable, especially for elderly residents and families with children, by stopping traffic on a set schedule during Sabbath hours.

Mayor Ann Tennes said the work also reflects a broader village goal of making Skokie welcoming to a diverse population.

"Engaging with the Illinois Department of Transportation and working with the rabbis and the faith leaders in the community to make this change just made a lot of sense and has improved safety in the community," Tennes said.

Trustee Gail Schechter described the signal change as an example of local government responding to community needs.

"Within the context of a healthy democracy, e pluribus unum — out of many, one — means that there is a give-and-take between government and the people in all our diversity to come up with ways for moving forward as one. We have an example of this in the way Skokie was able to deploy its traffic engineers to come up with a solution for orthodox Jews crossing busy Dempster Street on the sabbath," Schechter said.