Revocation of Highway Permit by the Illinois Department of Transportation
The City of Oakbrook Terrace received a Notice of Revocation of the Highway Permit issued by the Illinois Department of Transportation for its automated traffic law enforcement system at the intersection of Illinois Route 83 and 22nd Street in the city. According to the notice, the revocation was due to an administrative issue, not a public safety issue, the failure to timely file a three year evaluation report of the system. The three year evaluation report was to analyze the crash data for the intersection, compiled by the Illinois Department of Transportation, for calendar years 2019, 2020 and 2021. The city has not yet filed the three year evaluation report because the Illinois Department of Transportation has not compiled the 2021 crash data for the intersection. Without the crash data from the Illinois Department of Transportation, the city cannot perform the analysis of the data necessary to prepare the report. The city believes this to be the first time that the Illinois Department of Transportation has revoked a Highway Permit issued for an automated traffic law enforcement system due to its own inaction.
On average, pre pandemic, nearly 200,000 motor vehicles passed through the intersection yearly. The automated traffic law enforcement system became operational in August of 2017, a year in which 33 crashes took place at the intersection. The intersection has been the scene of over 233,000 violations of the Illinois Vehicle Code since the system was installed. The intersection has also been the scene of 39 motor vehicle crashes in 2018 and 31 motor vehicle crashes in 2019. Even with decreased traffic due to the pandemic, 17 motor vehicle crashes occurred at the intersection in 2020, the last year for which the Illinois Department of Transportation has compiled crash data.
Despite these statistics, the Village of Oak Brook has been a vocal proponent for the removal the automated traffic law enforcement system at the intersection due to its location near the Oak Brook Shopping Mall. Consequently, the City of Oakbrook Terrace believes this to be a tragic example of the profits of the Oak Brook Shopping Mall taking precedence over the safety of the motoring public.
