Legislation to make 127th Street safer for pedestrians and vehicles

Bob Rita is the Illinois State Representative for District 28. A law he introduced to the legislature to make 127th Street safer has been passed and is awaiting Governor Pritzker’s signature. PHOTO PROVIDED BY SEAN HOWARD
Bob Rita is the Illinois State Representative for District 28. A law he introduced to the legislature to make 127th Street safer has been passed and is awaiting Governor Pritzker’s signature. PHOTO PROVIDED BY SEAN HOWARD

 Legislation to make 127th Street safer for pedestrians and vehicles

By Tia Carol Jones

Illinois State Representative Bob Rita, D-Dist. 28, introduced legislation at the end of January that would make 127th Street safer. Now, the legislation has passed and is set to be signed by Governor J.B. Pritzker.

HB5328 amends the Illinois Vehicle Code, with a provision for special speed limits while passing schools that applies to local, county or State roads. The legislation increases the fine for speeding in a school zone from $150 to $250, for the first offense, and from $300 to $500 for subsequent offenses. It also includes state roads in the park zone street definition.

Rita, who is also a resident of Blue Island, along with officials whose municipalities sit along 127th Street have been voicing their concerns about the safety of the roadway. Pedestrians have been hit, injured, and some died. Also troubling is that Dwight D. Eisenhower High School and Memorial Park are located on 127th Street.
“When you look at the stretch from Kedzie to Western, you have two sets of railroad tracks, you have a hill, and you’re in between two expressways, I-57 and 294. So, you have four lanes of truck traffic, vehicles, it’s a pretty dangerous stretch of road. And, it’s a State owned road,” Rita said.

With the previous law, if a park was adjacent to an Illinois Department of Transportation road, it was not in the statute. HB5328 allowed for park speed zones on State-controlled highways. With the park speed zone near Memorial Park, located at 12804 S. High land Ave. in Blue Island, it would reduce the speed to 20 miles an hour. Rita believes with the park zone speed limit and the school zone speed limit at Eisenhower it will make it a safer environment for the community.

Rita believes the legislation was the quickest solution to the safety issues that were concerning to residents in the community. The alternative would have been for the Illinois Department of Transportation to conduct a traffic study, or creating a divided highway, which might have taken longer.

“It feels good to respond to a community. We can’t take back what has happened, but hopefully this will help prevent other tragic incidents,” Rita said. “A measure like this that will potentially be saving lives can have larger impact than some of the bigger ticket items we do in Springfield, it has more of a meaning; being able to respond in a short amount of time to correct and issue.”

The municipalities where the park zone is located will enact a local ordinance to create the park zone. Then, signs will be posted and they will do enforcement of the new speed limit. This law is immediate once it is signed by Pritzker.

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