PORTAGE PARK — Elected officials could dip into state money to install speed bumps, curb cuts and more to slow drivers on a residential road in Portage Park where two teen bicyclists have been hurt and killed in recent months.
City leaders and Northwest Side officials gathered Friday at Long Avenue and Grace Street to discuss how to make the street safer. The intersection is where a driver hit and critically injured 18-year-old Ernesto Vargas Feb. 23. Vargas was hit just down the road from where a driver hit and killed 16-year-old Josh Anleu in October.
Ald. Ruth Cruz (30th), Jefferson Park District Cmdr. Heather Daniel and reps. Lindsey LaPointe and Will Guzzardi attended the meeting, along with representatives for sens. Rob Martwick and Natalie Toro. David Smith, the city’s Complete Streets manager, and Brad Huff, the planning manager for Complete Streets, represented the Chicago Department of Transportation.
“We want to make sure that we all collaborate at the state and local level to bring some solutions to Long [Avenue],” Cruz said.
The residential road connects Chopin, Portage and Jefferson parks and draws a lot of younger bicyclists. But Long Avenue is also used as a shortcut for drivers who want to avoid the traffic on Central and Laramie avenues, officials said.
Long Avenue is a “great candidate” for becoming a formalized bike route, though getting protected bike lanes and an official designation could take time, Smith said. In the short term, the city could make it safer by adding temporary curb extensions and pavement markings, Smith said.
If the city can secure funding, some road improvements could be installed this summer and fall, Smith said.
“We know government moves slowly, but when a kid gets hit by a car and sent to the hospital in critical condition, we need to move fast,” Guzzardi said.
When a crash does occur, the speed of the car can mean the difference between life and death, Smith said. Curb extensions and speed humps can slow traffic and reduce the severity of injuries, he said.
Four permanent curb extensions would cost about $34,520, and four speed humps would cost $9,760, Cruz said.
“And that’s just this intersection,” Cruz told the group. “We would need more than four. We need to look at every single corner that we have.”
LaPointe and other elected officials could pool money from their campaign accounts “to make things happen faster,” she said.
“Tell us what you need, and we’ll do what we can to make it happen,” Guzzardi said.
Smith said he would meet with the elected officials again in the coming weeks to establish a “game plan” for immediate solutions and to iron out funding options.
Cruz and members of advocacy group Bike Lane Uprising criticized police after Vargas was hurt, saying a slow response meant officers did not arrive at the crash site until after the driver left.
Cruz and advocates reviewed video of the crash captured by a neighbor’s security camera, they previously said.
The footage shows Vargas and a black Jeep Wrangler were heading south on Long Avenue, according to Bike Lane Uprising. The driver of the Jeep was speeding and crossed into the northbound lane toward incoming traffic. As Vargas turned left onto Grace Street, the driver ignored the stop sign and hit him, the group said.
The security footage shows the driver of the Jeep and a passenger initially waited at the scene, but they left after the ambulance took off and police had not arrived, according to Bike Lane Uprising.
Vargas was taken to Lutheran General Hospital with a head injury and a brain bleed, according to the police report.
In a GoFundMe campaign page, Vargas’ father said his son was released from the hospital Wednesday. The teen “has a brain bleed, bruised neck ligaments, ruptured ear drum, and fractured ear canal,” the elder Vargas wrote.
“He will need to have physical therapy for I don’t know how long. He can’t work right and not sure when will he get back to work. Our family is grateful for anything donated to him,” he said on the GoFundMe page.
As of Monday morning, the campaign had raised $2,985 of its $60,000 goal.
The crash occurred about 5:30 p.m., according to the police report. A community alert looking for the driver listed the time of the crash as 5:54 p.m.
Officers arrived at 5:54 p.m. to 5499 W. Grace St., about a block west of where the crash happened, according to the report. The officers did not find any signs of a crash and radioed dispatchers, who said Vargas had been taken to the hospital.
Police went to the hospital to interview the teen, but he was in and out of consciousness, according to the report. Officers spoke to a witness who told them Vargas was hit on Long Avenue, according to the report. Officers returned to Long and Grace to find the scene “but with negative results,” according to the report.
Police have not made any arrests. Detectives are looking for a black Jeep Wrangler, but the year of the car and license plate aren’t known. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Major Accident Investigation Unit at 312-745-4521.
Just a few blocks from where Vargas was hit, a ghost bike honors Josh Anleu, who was killed in October when a driver ignored a stop sign and hit him, police said at the time.
Scott Lesniak, who lives between the two crash sites, said drivers often speed through stop signs on Long Avenue, going 30 or 40 mph.
“People drive like absolute maniacs,” Lesniak said. “It’s kind of death-defying to cross this road sometimes.”
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