School Zone Improvements
School Zone Improvements
Schools anchor many of Chicago's communities, and safety is critical to these institutions and their surrounding streets. CDOT has begun planning and installing traffic safety infrastructure in key areas surrounding schools. This work creates a better environment for children and families walking to their local schools each day, and the improvements serve all people in the surrounding community.
Ten schools and their surrounding neighborhoods will be selected for analysis and potential infrastructure enhancements in 2023-2024. Choosing these schools begins as a data-driven process, focused on crash records, existing safety concerns, and feasibility of effective designs. Strong partnerships and communications with schools and principals help to elevate local concerns in the process, speaking to operations and safety needs.
Pedestrian upgrades are designed to meet the safety needs of an individual school. Typically improvements include the following;
Make streets narrower to slow down drivers and shorten crossing distance for people walking.
Encourage drivers to slow down before the crosswalk and enable people walking to cross the street at sidewalk level.
Make it easier to find gaps in traffic when crossing a two-way street.
Each School shown on the map below represents multiple safety upgrades to neighborhood streets. Student access is improved at all intersections surrounding the school with crossing upgrades, and enhanced signage. Traffic calming, reduced speed limits, and truck restrictions may also be included. The number of partner schools continues to grow and more projects will be rolled out through 2023 - 2024.