Residents of the Hollywood section of Brookfield breathed a sigh of relief on May 22 after learning that a plan to reroute construction traffic through their neighborhood this summer was being scrapped by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.
The MWRD is expected to begin a sewer lining project along Washington Avenue and Arden Avenue around July 5. Initially, the MWRD planned to close Washington Avenue to traffic during the roughly two-month construction period and detour traffic to Rockefeller and Parkview avenues.
But complaints by residents convinced village and MWRD officials to rethink the traffic pattern during construction and they have come up with a solution that, while it may not prevent some vehicles from cutting through the neighborhood, won’t close down Washington Avenue.
The plan now calls for two-way traffic to be maintained on Washington via temporary traffic lights that will be placed at either end of the construction area. The lights will allow for traffic in either direction 24 hours a day, though flaggers may need to be present during times of heavier traffic to keep vehicles from backing up too much as motorists wait their turns.
Plans call for MWRD work on Washington Avenue to be staged in two separate, roughly 200-foot long sections near Hollywood Avenue and McCormick Avenue along the northern half of Washington Avenue. The traffic lights will move along with the construction, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of August.
Trish Smithing, a resident of Rockefeller Avenue, asked MWRD officials if the agency could remove signs, which are in place but covered, pointing out the original detour routes.
“If the signs aren’t necessary, we’ll take them down,” said Ryan Davis, the MWRD engineer in charge of the Brookfield project.
