Riverside has been dealing with increased traffic on its east side due to the closure of Harlem Avenue.
The major road has been closed at the BNSF railway crossing to allow for the completion of a “rehabilitation project,” according to Riverside’s website.
The closure began Thursday, Aug. 6 at 6 a.m. and will continue until Tuesday, Aug. 18 at 4 a.m., Public Safety Director Matthew Buckley said. The road was originally scheduled to reopen on Sunday, Aug. 16 at 6 a.m., but the closure was extended due to the weather, Buckley said.
In the meantime, traffic has been detoured around the closure, directing drivers to head west on Roosevelt Road and Ogden Avenue in order to head north or south along First Avenue. Riverside’s streets that connect to Harlem — Herrick Road, East Burlington Street, East Quincy Street, Lawton Road and Robinson Court — have been delegated for local traffic only, Buckley said.
“They’re not technically closed,” he told the Landmark. “There are signs up there that say, ‘Local traffic only,’ to alleviate the traffic in Riverside because our streets are not capable of handling the amount of traffic on Harlem Avenue.”
Residents who live on those streets are allowed to head east and turn onto Harlem heading away from the closure at the railway crossing, he added.
Buckley said the detour north of the closure was originally set to send drivers west on Cermak Road, but it was changed to Roosevelt Road due to construction on the bridge over the Des Plaines River between First Avenue and Des Plaines Avenue.
In the time since Harlem Avenue’s closure, Buckley said Riverside has seen increased vehicle traffic on those local-only streets from drivers ignoring the signs.
“We have had some trucks try to cut through town,” he said. “Our streets aren’t made to handle trunks, and that’s why the signs are put up at the detours. Berwyn technically can’t handle those trucks either, so that’s why they put those detours further out at Roosevelt and Ogden. Unfortunately, if a trucker decides he’s going to try to test it, then he’s probably going to get a ticket.”
He said officials have heard complaints from residents near Harlem Avenue who have struggled to break into traffic from their driveways and who then have to deal with delays as cars pile up at stop signs, for example.
“It’s not like it’s been a complete gridlock over there, but there have been additional delays as a result,” Buckley said. “It seems to be during rush hour times for the most part.”
He said Riverside officials first heard about the plans for the closure about two weeks ahead of time from RoadSafe, the BNSF line’s contracted traffic control firm.
Buckley acknowledged the difficulties residents have been facing since the closure began.
“Any time we have a major road that has to close for a period of time, it affects everybody. It’s a compounding factor. Our streets around here are busy enough, and then you add a closure to it, and it just makes it that much worse,” he said.
Despite the challenges, he said it’s a necessary evil that comes with necessary work.
“Unfortunately, this is another one of those projects that we call tearing the band-aid off and getting it done, ripping it off as quick as you can,” he said. “It’s probably the quickest, most efficient way to get it done, and then when it’s done, we’re in a much better place because we’ve got a new crossing there, and, hopefully, it will last for many, many years, and we won’t have to deal with this for a while.”
