Kirk Road Turns in Batavia Up For Public Discussion

A Batavia city committee is gathering feedback on making one of that city's most infamous roads safer.

The City Services Committee is considering a proposal from city staff to eliminate left turns at the intersection of Kirk and Giese roads as well as Kirk and Chillem Drive.

Public feedback on this proposal was taken at the committee's meeting at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 7, at , 100 N. Island Ave.

Kirk Road has long been a point of discussion for officials and residents alike. Some residents have said the road has been known as "Killer Kirk" for decades.

While no actual fatalities have been reported at the Kirk-Giese and Kirk-Chillem intersections recently, they each have been the site of several serious car crashes. After a couple of committee meetings earlier this year, a traffic study was conducted with strong findings for eliminating left-turn movement at the intersections.

Tanya Arriaga is one resident who agrees with some of the proposed changes for the intersections. Arriaga, 24, and her parents live in a house on the southwest corner of Kirk and Chillem.

Arriaga was home on April 28 this year when a male driver . A pickup truck also collided with the car. All three drivers sustained injuries.

“Do you want to take a chance here? You’re constantly looking at your rear view mirror … checking to see how far they are behind you.” Arriaga said, looking at the intersection after the crash. “This is not the first time this ever happened, and this probably won’t be the last time.”

The Crash Numbers

Crash data from the indicated that, from 2009 through 2011:

• A total of 10 crashes occurred at Kirk and Chillem and 13 crashes happened at Kirk and Giese.

• The majority of the crashes at each intersection were rear-end crashes.

Batavia Patch covered at least one of the crashes at Kirk and Giese. On March 21, 2011, for injuries after a three-vehicle crash there.

The Changes

The city and the Kane County Department of Transportation would restrict left turns onto Chillem and Giese from Kirk by installing a concrete barrier in the middle of Kirk Road.

To restrict left turns onto Kirk, the city would install concrete medians, or pork chop-shaped controls, on the intersections so that motorists are forced to turn right. There are currently pork chop controls in the Randall Road business corridor. One of them is the first turn out of the Batavia Wendy's parking lot to Wilson Street. This pork-chop assisted turn is located directly east of the Randall-Wilson intersection.

Motorists that want to get into the neighborhoods west of Kirk would turn from Wind Energy Pass or Pine Street, which has a traffic light.

How Will This Impact Traffic at Kirk and Pine?

Several residents at a May 8 committee meeting were concerned that traffic would become congested at Kirk and Pine because of all the motorists who would have to turn there instead of at Giese and Chillem.

In response to this, city staff said the operations of the Pine Street intersection "would show little change" with the additional cars.

The county would also monitor the Pine Street intersection and increase the timing for left turns in the future if needed, according to the city's July 31 memo on the Kirk Road changes.