Average Daily Traffic Counts for August/Sept 2011.........are from 10,200 to 15,700.......well inside the capacity for three-lane roads

You can follow the average daily traffic counts on IDOT's site. Just zoom in to IL Rte 53 and you'll see the aadt.

In order to enter Chat, click the 53_Neighbors_United button above, click the "Chat Now" option on the new page, and then enter "53_Neighbors_United" including underscore where you see "Lobby" and it should take you there. You don't have to register to chat. Please do be polite and remember these are neighbors, coworkers and others you will run into in real life.

Public Spaces in Neighborhoods

Click on the link above to see all sorts of possibilities streetscapes can bring to a neighborhood.

Who We Are

53 Neighbors United is a group of residents living along route 53 dedicated to promoting context-sensitive solutions for Route 53. We are organizing and educating stakeholders and in dialog with IDOT to apply CSS principles to the design of Route 53. We have been holding meetings among neighbors to discover the stakeholder's needs and have been holding meetings with IDOT and elected officials to share those needs and work together to develop designs that meet the needs of stakeholders and the motoring public. .

53 Neighbors United is dedicated to contributing to the development of a context-sensitive highway. A three-lane is preferred by most of the community, but if IDOT can not build that configuration our goal is to not settle for anything less than a contextually sensitive cross section. One that is beautiful in function. Such elegance in design highlights these characteristics: It is multimodal, safe and as green as possible in construction materials, during construction mindful of protecting and restoring the ecology and in function.

We continue to work every angle to get a better, more livable design for the community and residents whose voice we carry in the form of surveys and petition letters. We feel that working for sensible design and especially a design that is ecologically is better than doing nothing.

Beyond this, we are working with other organizations to improve the public spaces adjacent to the roadway. Many people would like to see nice landscaping, bike paths, sidewalks, etc. Others would like to see the watershed improved and a natural gateway corridor to the Morton Arboretum. Wherever the roadway travels, it's not just about the space in the lanes, but beside the lanes and in the back and front yards of the people and stores that reside along the route.

Changes in Our Organization

There have been new members that have stepped onto the steering committee. We encourage change of membership and participation from as wide a range of fields and neighborhoods as possible. We represent some 3000 households up and down the corridor and are trying to keep lines of communications open. This web page is one of the many ways we attempt to do this.

New Additions to our Committee

Bill Graham, P.E.

Dennis Nyberg, Ph.D. biosciences

Illinois State Representative Sandra Pihos -R 42nd District

Candace Ruzek

How We Are Organized

We are organized as four stakeholder involvement teams each representing a section of the Route 53 corridor, with representatives of each team and our CSS Urban Planner Mary Kaufman meeting on a regular basis to share information and ideas. .

Lombard North- North Avenue to St. Charles Road
Lombard/Glen Ellyn - St. Charles Road to Roosevelt Road
Dropped - Roosevelt Road to Butterfield Road
Valley View - Butterfield Road to Osage Drive

How You Can Help

You can help most by staying informed and be part of the mailing group. You can also help by realizing that for many of us along this corridor, we're not represented by a village or town. In order to be a stakeholder in our own right, we need funding that could be used for grants. You get to voice how you want the money to be spent. Meetings will begin to be held starting in November, and every six months after that to report on changes in grant availability, working partnerships, IDOT's process schedule and much more.

Tell us what you want. Fill out our survey. Or gve feedback. here. Please also you the blog.

Show your support by buying a t-shirt, mug or hat with the 53 Neighbors United logo. All items are sold at cost, we make no money, but you can show your support!. Visit our CafePress store.

Future Plans for 53 Neighbors United

Because of problems with matching funding for amenities in 2006, consideration is being given to create 53 Neighbors United as a not-for-profit organization for the purpose of representing the transportation concerns of the Route 53 corridor throughout the lifetime of the project and possibly beyond. The IL Route 53 project is still active from IL 64 to IL 38 and from South of IL 56 to the Morton Arboretum. Of concern are funding issues for sidewalks south of Butterfield Road, and restoration work along the East Branch of the DuPage River along with a lack of collaborative design from IDOT. North of Roosevelt we have issues such as subtle changes to the bike trails, future funding of the project, time line changes for construction, acquisition representation should it occur plus landscaping and flooding issues because of new development.

Two future surveys will be available now in August 2011 through November 2011 through the web and also there will be someone distributing flyers door-to-door. They will not be asking for donations or to have you sign up for anything like magazines or such. It's simply handing you a flyer pointing to this website or putting a flyer in your door. If someone asks you for money at your door or to sign up for something saying they are from 53 Neighbors United, please email the webmaster immediately.

Contact Information

Public Coordinators: Ray Ribich, Cathy Badalamentii, Joyce Urbaniak, Chris Kaufman

General Information: il53info@cssforum.org
Webmaster: webmaster@cssforum.org