Balmoral & Broadway – cross at your own risk
Balmoral & Broadway. Credit: Jeremy Bressman
Crossing the street at Balmoral and Broadway can sometimes be more difficult than a game of Frogger. Four lanes of traffic travel (usually speeding) north/south on Broadway, eastbound traffic on Balmoral approaching Broadway from the west has the option of turning right, left or cross straight across those four lanes on Broadway, traffic travels both east and westbound on Balmoral east of Broadway, and pedestrians cross in all four directions of the street. Essentially, whether you are driving or walking you have a confusing mess of a recipe for disaster. Rarely do cars stop, yet alone slow down for a pedestrian in any of the cross walks.
With Broman Playlot children’s park, a popular pet store and a new neighborhood pub occupying three of the four corners and attracting pedestrians to this intersection, it is obvious some sort of traffic calming is much needed. Already two pedestrians have been struck at this intersection in the past few years that we know of; just this weekend on Satuday a pedestrian was struck here and had to be taken away by paramedics. Fortunately, injuries do not appear to be too severe.
Brendan Costello, co-owner of Burke’s Public House (5401 N Broadway), supports a stop light being installed at the intersection. Like many in the area, he worries both about residents with children who live on the east side of Broadway trying to cross while heading west to Andersonville or the playlot, as well as residents who live west of Broadway who are coming to frequent his business, Jewel or the lakefront.
Kate Welborn, President of the Lakewood Balmoral Residents Council acknowledges the intersection as being dangerous but is also sensative of the impact a stop light may have of driving additional traffic through the Lakewood Balmoral neighborhood. “I am in favor of calming devices {at Balmoral and Broadway}, but have concerns about how a stop-sign or signal could affect traffic volume in the heart of our neighborhood. Drivers commonly disobey signage on Balmoral, and this problem may escalate if access to Broadway (north or south) is more convenient” Welborn says.
When asked if the 48th Ward office was aware of the dangers of this intersection, Dan Luna from the 48th Ward staff replied “Yes, in the future there will be a traffic signal or a traffic calming device at that intersection. A traffic study has already been requested. I couldn’t agree more that traffic needs to slow down on Broadway. I’m confident that a signal will be there within the next two years.” Two years?
When this issue was originally brought up to former Alderman Smith a few years back from the EBNA block club and others, she too told us a traffic study was requested and no further action was taken that we are aware of so we’re a bit pessimistic. We were able to garner the attention of the CPD in 2010, and they conducted a traffic sting here but that was nothing more than a temporary fix to the larger problem. I do have more confidence in Osterman’s staff to eventually bring a permanent solution, but can’t help but wonder how many more pedestrians will be struck at this dangerous intersection over the next two years. In the interim, I suggest walking south to the light at Berwyn.
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