IL 19 at Wood Dale Road Intersection Reconstruction

HR Green prepared plans and specifications and provided construction observation/supervision for the reconstruction of Irving Park Road (IL 19) at Wood Dale Road (DuPage County Rte 28) intersection to improve safety and alleviate congestion for all users. This intersection is heavily traveled with Average Daily Traffic of over 30,000 Vehicles Per Day on IL 19 and upwards of 18,000 Vehicles Per Day on Wood Dale Road, which is in the heart of Wood Dale’s city center. This high-volume intersection is complicated by several close proximity side streets, numerous commercial driveways, and skewed railroad crossings of the north and east legs of the intersection.

The Metra Milwaukee District West rail line operates a double-track facility accommodating freight and commuter traffic, in excess of 75 trains per day, crossing IL 19 (east leg) and Wood Dale Road (north leg). In addition, the Wood Dale Metra station is located less than a quarter-mile to the east of the subject intersection. Before reconstruction, both IL 19 and Wood Dale Road ceased operations entirely during train movements or stops at the station.

To improve safety and alleviate congestion a half-mile of Irving Park Road and Wood Dale Road and the rail and rail crossings needed to be widened and reconstructed, new auxiliary turn lanes were added, and existing auxiliary turn lanes were lengthened.  Installation of barrier medians on Wood Dale Road to reduce cross access and enhance safety, and on IL 19 to separate left-turn lanes from opposing through traffic was also included.

The crowning, lasting, and innovative achievement of this project was the implementation of the new Traffic Signal Modernization/Interconnect and controller program. This element of the project is fully integrated with the railroad track and safety pre-emption equipment and programs. Upon train detection, it allows for the system to go through a clearance sequence of all vehicular traffic, then proceeds to an all-red phase and then allows for two movements to utilize the intersection, eastbound to southbound and northbound to westbound, which are unaffected by train operations to utilize the intersection.

This program was developed as a part of this project and approved by IDOT and ICC prior to implementation. This signal programming is the first of its kind in Illinois for this type of at-grade intersection since it affects both the north/south and the east/west traffic patterns due to the skewed crossing.

After implementation at this intersection, this controls/signal program was added to a similar intersection at Plum Grove Rd and Meacham Road.