Frequently Asked Questions - Traffic Studies

The intersection of Randall and Red Gate Roads is under the jurisdiction of the Kane County Division of Transportation. KDOT has a project in place to improve this intersection by 2007. Permanent traffic signals will be installed as part of this project and turn lanes will be added to Red Gate Road.

The current plan does not contemplate Red Gate Road or Route 31 being expanded to a 4 lane roadway. Further, the City’s 4 year budget does not contemplate the capital project improvement. Because the Red Gate Bridge is proposed to be a 2 lane river crossing (similar to the Prairie Street Bridge) it would seem unlikely that the adjacent roadways would be expanded to multiple lanes.

 Any plan to revise traffic patterns on State Routes must consider both car and truck traffic. Second Street (Route 31) and Main Street (Route 64) are designated truck routes, Illinois and Prairie Streets are not. Forcing all traffic from SB Route 31 to cross the river on the Illinois and Prairie Street bridges would place truck traffic on local streets and does not provide a route for trucks to get back to Main Street and continue east.

On several days each month, the teachers at St. Charles North High School participate in an early morning program called "Education Through Cooperation (ETC)". This program includes meetings and training for teachers. On these days the students arrive at school approximately one hour later than the normal starting time of 7:20 AM.

Manual traffic counts for the Red Gate Bridge project were taken from 6 AM to 6 PM on 1/12/2005 and 1/25/2005. On both of these days school started at the normal time. Machine counts were taken between 5 PM on 1/26 and 5 PM on 1/27. January 26 was an ETC day, but because the counts were not started until after school was dismissed, the late start did not affect the traffic counts. School started at the normal time on 1/27.

RHA performs traffic counts for many different clients. Our crews were out in the area counting traffic on Red Gate Road on 5/18 for a different client. On that day, the students started classes late due to ETC.

No, a formal origin and destination study was not conducted. Travel patterns were determined using the Kane County 2030 Transportation Model, which uses year 2030 population, employment, and land use data for the region as prepared by the Northern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC). The results of the traffic modeling were reviewed by the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Chicago Area Transportation Study (the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the Chicago region). Both agencies have concurred with the findings of the traffic modeling.