Kadner: U-turns always allowed unless sign says ‘No’

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Artist drawing of the proposed streetscape improvements at 143rd Street and LaGrange Road. | Supplied photo

Updated: February 28, 2012 8:16AM

It is legal to make U-turns at intersections in Illinois unless a sign is posted indicating that no U-turns are allowed.

I probably knew that once. But that piece of information has long since passed from memory.

“You’re not alone,” said Edward Schussler III, an Orland Park trustee. “Nine of 10 people don’t know it. I’ve been asking them.”

Schussler is chairman of the village board’s public works and engineering committee and has been working for years on the planned widening of LaGrange Road.

As I wrote in a recent column, that project will not only widen the major thoroughfare from two to three lanes in each direction but will create a 27-foot-wide, landscaped median strip from 131st to 179th streets.

As a result, motorists will not be able to make left turns into the many stores and strip malls on LaGrange Road whenever they want. They will often have to make U-turns at intersections “and most people around here just aren’t used to doing that,” Schussler said.

Making the maneuver even more complex (and perhaps dangerous) is the fact that at 143rd, 151st and 159th streets, LaGrange Road will have double left-turn lanes.

The outer turn lane (the left-turn lane to the right) will be for left turns only. The lane to the left will allow both left turns and U-turns.

“We plan on doing a massive education campaign to explain this to people,” Schussler said. “And we’re working with IDOT (Illinois Department of Transportation) on signage to make this as clear as possible.”

He emphasized that while IDOT has been cooperative, it has been reluctant to post U-turn signs because its policy calls for only posting signs indicating no U-turns.

“We will continue to talk to the village and remain open to suggestions that would make the road more convenient for motorists to use,” said Guy Tridgell, a spokesman for IDOT. “But since U-turns are allowed unless signs to the contrary are posted, it has been our policy not to post signs indicating that U-turns can be made.”

The LaGrange Road widening project is tentatively scheduled to start in the fall, although IDOT is still acquiring right-of-way. When finished, the total cost to the state, from preliminary engineering through completion, is estimated at $106 million.

While some LaGrange Road businesses may lose parking and landscaping, no business would have to be purchased or relocated to complete the project, according to village officials.

Orland Park, which wants to use the wide median to create a boulevard effect, has gotten permission from IDOT to do the median landscaping. Village manager Paul Grimes estimates the landscaping cost at $10 to $15 million.

In addition to planters and trees, there will be an underground irrigation system installed to prevent median trees and plants from being destroyed by road salt.

I was shown some conceptual diagrams of how LaGrange Boulevard would look after it’s completed and a planning book prepared for Orland Park by an engineering firm, T.Y. Lin International.

Wherever possible, the plan calls for 5-foot-wide sidewalks separated from the street by a 5-foot-wide parkway.

“Where right-of-way is constrained, a seven-foot-wide sidewalk adjacent to the curb with no parkway is proposed,” the report states.

Orland Park this spring will begin extending Ravinia Avenue north from 143rd Street through the new Metra Triangle project.

“Ravinia and 94th avenues will provide alternate routes once LaGrange construction begins,” Grimes said.

The village is also planning to meet next week with business owners on LaGrange Road to discuss the widening project.