Cary Grove students present one‑mile traffic safety plan calling for bike lanes, raised crosswalks and automated enforcement

Cary Grove High School students presented a traffic safety plan to the Village of Cary board on Feb. 4 that recommends a package of engineering and enforcement measures aimed at reducing pedestrian and vehicle collisions within a one‑mile radius of the school.

The presentation opened with Aaron Pfeiffer, a Cary Grove teacher, praising students’ work and noting the timing of the report as the village prepares its capital improvement plan and budget. "I was very impressed with the detail, the depth of the review that you're about to see," he said.

The students said their objective was "to design a roadway network within 1 mile of Cary Grove High School's radius to eliminate fatalities for the next 25 years," Nora Urbadis, a student in the AP Human Geography class, told the board. Their recommendations combined infrastructure changes and enforcement: buffered bike lanes on collector streets, raised crosswalks at select intersections, rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs) at key crossings, a no‑turn‑on‑red restriction at the 3 Oaks Road and First Street intersection, and automated speed enforcement near the school.

The presentation included field counts and survey results gathered by AP Statistics students. Gavin King said morning counts at the main faculty entrance measured roughly 600 cars and 15 buses, while lunch counts at that entrance reached nearly 2,000 cars. At the First Street/3 Oaks entrance the class recorded about 800 cars at morning drop‑off and about 1,000 at lunch. Student survey responses indicated more than 60% support for adding bike lanes on 3 Oaks Road, and 77.3% of surveyed students favored RRFBs at the proposed crossing near Holy Cross Lutheran Church and the school's main entrance.

Students argued buffered bike lanes slow traffic and improve safety by increasing the visible presence of cyclists and pedestrians, and Bradley Kyle said raised crosswalks at 3 Oaks and Eldon Drive and at 3 Oaks and First Street would force approaching vehicles to slow and make pedestrians more visible. "Raised crosswalks forced vehicles to slow down when approaching them, which makes pedestrians more visible and consequently increases safety for pedestrians," Kyle said.

On enforcement, students recommended automated speed cameras and cited anecdotal effects from family members who slowed after receiving tickets. The class also reported low student support for a roundabout at 3 Oaks and First Street and suggested the no‑turn‑on‑red plus a raised crosswalk as a safer alternative.

Board members responded with a mix of operational and funding observations. The mayor noted that First Street will be reconstructed next year from Route 14 to 3 Oaks and "will include a buffered bike lane," a project the board previously approved. A trustee cautioned that raised crosswalks are not always feasible on main arterial routes because of emergency vehicle access; the mayor referenced the fire chief's access needs when discussing raised treatments on 3 Oaks Road. Village staff also described lower‑cost measures being considered, such as lane‑narrowing striping and radar speed signs (estimated around $2,500 each depending on equipment), and said the board will review potential discretionary funding in its upcoming capital improvement planning meeting.

The board praised the students' work and encouraged them to continue engagement with staff and the traffic engineer as projects move through planning and budgeting. "Well done. You guys did a really good job," one trustee said.

The presentation concluded with students repeating their top three recommendations as RRFBs, buffered bike lanes and a no‑turn‑on‑red policy at the identified intersection. The board and staff said they will consider the recommendations as part of the village's 5‑year capital improvement program and as specific projects (such as First Street) advance to design and funding decisions.