The village of Brookfield will kick in a little less than $7,000 this summer to help pay for an Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) effort to install LED traffic signals with countdown pedestrian displays at all of the traffic light-controlled intersections along state routes in the village.
According to Public Works Director Dan Kaup, it’s not clear exactly when IDOT will begin replacing the traffic lights, but it will take place sometime during the 2014 construction season.
“It’ll be contingent on their bidding process,” said Kaup.
The Brookfield village board, Jan. 27, voted unanimously to approve a resolution agreeing to the cost-sharing agreement. New signals will be installed at the following intersections: Ogden and Eberly, Ogden and DuBois, Ogden and Maple, Ogden and Prairie, Ogden and Custer and at the 31st Street/Golfview Avenue cutoff to First Avenue.
The total cost for installing the LED countdown signals at the six Brookfield intersections is large. Including the cost of design engineering, the new traffic lights will cost $186,300 to install.
The benefits of the new lights, according to IDOT, are reduced energy usage, less maintenance and greater visibility. A battery backup will also be included with each signal to provide power in case of short-term outages.
Grant sought for sidewalks
Meanwhile the Brookfield village board on Jan. 27 also gave Kaup the go-ahead to apply for up to $160,000 in federal grant funding, to be administered by IDOT as part of its Safe Routes to School program.
IDOT has pledged $6 million in federal funding during 2014 to municipalities within Illinois to improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists near schools. According to Kaup, “The grant stipulates that any sidewalk that will be newly built or replaced must be within two miles of a school.” That would give Brookfield quite a bit of leeway in deciding where to spend the money for sidewalk replacement/installation.
If the village obtains the grant funding, said Kaup, the money would be added to the $55,000 that Brookfield already has budgeted for sidewalk replacement in 2014. Last year, the Public Works Department completed a survey of sidewalks within the village, rating sections from poor to good.
With the grant money, he said, “We could get through about half of the town where trip hazards are 2 inches or greater. It will allow us to replace about 50 percent of the town’s worst sidewalks.”
In addition, sidewalks would be added to two sections on the north side of Congress Park Avenue where none existed before. One section is immediately south of the open field next to Lincoln School, from Custer Avenue to just east of Forest Avenue.
The other section is closer to Congress Park School on the north side of Congress Park Avenue from just east of Maple Avenue to Madison Avenue.
