Together we can STOP the
Happ Rd Project.
Northfield Neighbors —
Vote NO on the referendum on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Did you know that there will be a referendum on the Nov. 5 ballot for Northfield voters? This is the most critical way we can tell our Village Board that the Happ Rd Project is not right for Northfield. Here is what to look for on the ballot. PLEASE GET OUT AND VOTE!
Northfield residents and business owners gathered on October 16, 2024 in the New Trier (Northfield) cafeteria. Members of the Save Happ Rd Committee shared a brief recap of the proposed changes to Happ Rd, a summary of concerns about what the county and village are not revealing and a list of objections. Many residents who have not attended prior Committee of the Whole meetings, board meetings or the special meeting on 9/11 voiced their questions and concerns and made suggestions about what the community can do. Presentation slides will be posted here soon.
Public Forum Strengthened the Coalition
The primary takeaways from the meeting are:
Feelings of opposition are strong. People are frustrated with how this project came to be and how incredibly wrong it feels for Northfield.
It is vitally important for residents to vote no on the November 5 ballot’s Public Question. Everyone agreed to recruit 10 friends to commit to vote on this.
A Northfield resident who is an architect with global experience generously developed and shared his ideas for an alternative approach that strives to create an aesthetically pleasing sense of place and improve walkability in Northfield. It is far more appealing than a roundabout and it underscores the fact that other ideas can and should be considered.
Another meeting is requested, and in fact another public forum that is attended by village leadership is suggested.
The Save Happ Rd Committee asked for everyone who can help with this opposition effort to please contribute in any way they can.
If you wish to volunteer, donate or if you have any questions about the campaign against the roundabout and center turn lane please email noroundaboutinfo@gmail.com. Please continue to visit this site for updates.
Roundabout
Center Turn Lane
Did you know that the Happ Rd Project calls for the removal of approximately 20 mature trees and their extensive root systems? The water table along the Happ Rd corridor will be altered.
What are the issues?
The Village of Northfield in partnership with the Cook County Department of Transportation and Highway began around 2015 exploring the idea of constructing a roundabout in our town's business center, and adding a center turn lane in the residential portion of the road. Their justification for making these drastic changes was to improve safety for cars and pedestrians and create a sense of place to support local businesses.
Overwhelmingly, as more residents and business owners have learned of this project, opposition is growing. The concerns fall into these areas:
1. Safety
Data shows that there is not a serious traffic flow issue or rate of accidents to warrant such severe and permanent measures.
A roundabout is not appropriate in a town center. It will cause confusion, traffic back-ups and most likely an increase in accidents.
Roundabouts keep cars moving. Drivers in roundabouts focus on navigating the circle, which detracts their attention away from pedestrians. Pedestrian safety will be compromised.
The center turn lane will create new points of potential conflict with the density of driveways on a residential street. It is intended to move left-turning cars out of the way to keep traffic moving. But traffic is never stopped for long on Happ. This type of change to the road opens the door for an increased speed limit and heavier truck traffic.
2. Walkability and Sense of Place
The roundabout is enormous, roughly the same footprint as the Metamorphosis building—a giant disruption in visual and walking flow. It separates, not unifies, further dividing our town.
The roundabout will eliminate 21 parking spaces, worsening the parking problem we already have. The village cannot guarantee they can replace those spaces.
A roundabout is not a place to gather or gaze at. Pedestrians want to avoid cars, not gather near them.
3. Transparency and Mishandling
The village and the county pushed this plan through without input from residents and business owners.
The roundabout was proposed in 2015 before a steering committee was even formed.
No homeowners who would later be impacted by the project were invited to be on the steering committee or even informed of the impacts. Instead, the committee was made up of mostly engineers, village staff, county representatives and developers.
Opposing voices on the steering committee were closed out of meetings.
The “public engagement process” was anemic: inappropriately placed ads, minimal effort to build awareness.
Bottom line, a roundabout will serve as a detriment and a deterrent to the people who want to enjoy our town, shops and restaurants.
Interested in spreading the news with a lawn sign, t-shirt, buttons or stickers? Contact us and we’ll deliver it to you.
If any of this concerns you, what can you do? Help us keep pressure on the current leadership of Northfield, which has changed considerably since the start of this project. We need a new plan. Stay engaged. We continue to see people who don’t want this project show up meeting after meeting. With that kind of support we can make a difference.
Let the Village Board of Trustees know how you feel or ask your questions by emailing vgroup@northfieldil.org. Even if you have done this before, keep asking questions and voicing opposition.
Email noroundaboutinfo@gmail.com to request a yard sign or submit a question or comment.
Get involved. We need help getting the word out. Email us at noroundaboutinfo@gmail.com to find out how.
Make a donation to help fund the opposition campaign. Email us at noroundabout info@gmail.com for payment options.
More information
Information Center
Supporting documents dating back to the 2016 start of this project are available here: https://happroad.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2021.03.25-envrpt.pdf
On August 20, residents and business owners attended the Village Committee of the Whole Meeting and Village Board Meeting to ask questions and express concerns. Listen to the audio recordings and read the minutes here: https://il-northfield.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter
Thank you to everyone who showed up for the standing-room-only special board meeting on September 11. For those of you who couldn’t be there, or had to leave early, please watch the video recording here.
For reference, here are the presentation slides from the Sept. 11 meeting. This summarizes the plans as they stand today.
See North Shore Record story posted afterward. Outspoken residents may have effected change for Northfield’s Happ Road
More about roundabouts
The roundabout
Will create a constant flow of traffic (no stop signs) resulting in 10 individual lane crossings. That’s a lot of trust in cars yielding to pedestrians.
Will create a larger footprint than the existing intersection, consuming valuable parking spaces, which will harm our local businesses and destroy our small-town feel.
Is too close to Willow Rd intersection. What will happen when Willow Rd traffic backs up into the roundabout? Gridlock!
Is uncommon and unpopular in our area and will cause people to avoid downtown Northfield rather than attract them, again hurting local businesses.
Roundabouts in general are:
Intended to reduce speeds where traffic needs to transition from a high speed limit. That is not our situation.
Effective at keeping heavy traffic flowing. Northfield does not have heavy traffic.
Keep traffic continually moving. But we want to encourage pedestrian crossings, and we have business establishments on every leg of the roundabout. Business traffic and a walkable shopping district will be hurt.
Intended to reduce vehicle crash incidences, but data shows that there are few crashes at the Happ Rd./Orchard Ln. intersection.
There are few roundabouts in Northern Illinois (IDOT)
IL 58 at Wolf Rd/State St/Broadway St (Des Plaines, Cook)
IL 47 at Plato Rd (Plato Twp, Kane)
IL 47 at Burlington Rd (Campton Hills, Kane)
US 20 at Harmony Rd (Coral Rwp, McHenry)
US 20 at Marengo-Beck Rd/South Union Rd (Union, McHenry)
IL 23 at WB I-90 Ramps (Marengo, McHenry)
IL 2 at Auburn St (Rockford, Winnebago)
U.S. 6 at IL 178 (Utica, LaSalle)
Elgin is removing roundabouts. https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/08/27/elgin-crews-tear-up-controversial-turning-circle-to-restore-four-way-intersection-in-historic-district/
More on the center turn lane
The center turn lane
Will make turning left into residential driveways hazardous (center turn lanes are for commercial streets, not residential)
Will result in higher speeds of travel due to extra road width
Turn Happ Rd into an artery, hurting residents’ property values
Takes away land from residents on Happ Rd.
Additional arguments against the center turn lane include:
Happ Rd already has a center turn lane in the shopping district.
South of there is all residential. There are 16 driveways on the east side of the road, 6 driveways on the west side, one full intersection (Harding Rd) and one half intersection (Holder Ln).
There are no long wait times while residents turn into their driveways.
There is not a high rate of vehicle crashes.
The turn lane forces a pedestrian crossing “island”, which in turns blocks access to some east-side driveways for southbound travel.
New crash potential is created at multiple points if residents are turning left from opposite directions into their respective driveways. Below are the residential driveways that would risk collision when turning left (northbound) with their neighbors across the street who might be simultaneously turning left (southbound) into their own driveways.
111 and 119 Happ across from The Landmark entrance
131 and 139 Happ across from 144 Happ
165 across from 166 Happ
173 Happ across from the south entrance to Colonial Ln
175 and 179 Happ across from the main entrance to Colonial Ln
217 Happ across from Holder Ln
Note that 207, 209 and 211 driveways will have their southbound left turns into their driveways blocked by a center lane pedestrian crosswalk island!