Why Hermosa Residents Avoid Dangerous Kostner Ave

Kostner Avenue at Diversey. The large street sign indicates a major street, although no bus line exists. Photo by Lee Helmer

August 31, 2018 by Lee Helmer

Kostner Avenue. The unofficial center line of Hermosa that some may associate with gas stations: there is a gas station on every major intersection of Kostner in Hermosa except for Armitage. We may as well change our neighborhood motto to “Hermosa: Where you’ll never run out of gas.”

We also use Kostner to walk or drive to Kelvyn Park, Kelvyn Park High School, south past our borders to the Menard's on North and Grand (Humboldt Park), or maybe jaunt west of Kostner to go to Hermosa Park in the southern end. It’s a through-way street for most of us. Busy, but very much neighborhoody: It has no bus route for an in-between 400 block street (like California, Laramie, Austin).

You may find victorian era farmhouse double lots or brick and frame Chicago cottages in the southern portion of our triangle-shaped community. North of Kelvyn Park (2600 N.) to Belmont (3200 N.) you’ll find the 10 o’clock position on the “C” that is the Chicago bungalow belt, now deemed an historic section of the city via the HCBA. To me, this is the street that defines Hermosa. It has little bit of everything that is a Chicago community.

The concern about Kostner is not necessarily about traffic volume (we live in a city, we have lots of traffic), it’s the reduced width along with the reckless driving that has caused countless accidents and jeopardizes the safety of our children, pedestrians, and the safe drivers. This week, last week, and countless other weeks and years we have had serious accidents, many with innocently parked cars, most recently one vehicle ending up in the parkway stopped only by a trusty tree (Call 311 if you don't have a tree in your parkway. They double as a safety net.).

Kostner Accidents

One of the many parked cars that are hit at high speed on a regular basis. This accident occurred in the 3000 block of north Koster, near Wellington and the car ended up on the parkway, crashing into the tree.

While other parts of Kostner certainly need some safety upgrades, the stretch north of Diversey in Hermosa, to Belmont, is different. As soon as you pass Cozy Corner (bless them, tasty chilaquiles and excellent service) heading north, the width of the street shrinks several feet and the street signs become smaller. There is a “NO TRUCKS” sign, a school zone sign, and again, no bus route. You may be too awed by the old-growth tree canopy or confused by the only paid parking spots to notice at first, but in rush hour, you may feel like you need a Mr. Magoo car in order to make it to Belmont Avenue alive. It is narrower, nay, the narrowest (30 feet wide) that a two-way street can be in the city of Chicago. And get this: the city (CDOT) admits that this street has a higher rate of accidents (1).

C.D.O.T. TRAFFIC STUDY

(1) Admitting a more dangerous street: "On streets like Kostner...traffic lanes are narrow...sideswipes with parked cars may occur more frequently."

Okay, so CDOT knows it’s a problem and residents know it’s a problem (some say for 30+ years), seeing the aftermath of the damage or even avoiding this stretch of Kostner altogether. But the drivers speeding north by way of the more roomier, southern Hermosa version of Kostner (the big version of the street sign) don’t seem to think so. Cars sideswiped, rear ended, hit and run of a pregnant woman (no joke, but luckily they turned out ok). Broken side mirrors litter the curbs up and down this stretch. Even Chicago police cars consistently speed down this street in the late evenings when there is less traffic, blowing stop signs. I watch it over and over from my living room windows.

I’m biased because these are my blocks, but let’s take a tour of what it might be like to navigate through this street: Heading north on Kostner past the southern border Bloomingdale tracks, you have Fullerton Avenue, then you come to Kelvyn Park High School. I can only imagine what a nightmare it is for KPHS families (comment below!) to park and maneuver as a pedestrian with the multi-stop sign disjointed mess surrounding Wrightwood Avenue.

And just north at the actual Kelvyn Park, there are several cross walks that lack signage and driver clarity. Only in the past year or so the city has added curb cuts for pedestrians at Parker Ave. Who stops where and when can I cross the street? Thank goodness the church on that corner is not active. Here we have a Pulaski-like driving experience with constant 2 way traffic, throw in an obstacle course around Kelvyn Park, go past another gas station at Diversey to be squished into bumper cars, a la North Hermosa. Oh, then stop dead at Belmont, forcing you to go either to Belmont-Cragin (left) or Avondale (right). This street is not designed to "serve an important function in the Chicago street grid, " per CDOT. Unless, of course, if that function is to create chaos.

The corner of Kostner Ave and George, north of Diversey. Street signs are smaller and the road is narrower. Photo by Lee Helmer

In 2015-2018, the North Hermosa enclave of residents have had meetings to discussion the continuous accidents and speeding, and some residents want Kostner Avenue turned into a one way street vs two (which 31st Alderwoman Santiago has asked for a paper vote by September 1, 2018), but I say this is not a North Hermosa problem. This is a community problem. It runs the entire length of Kostner relating to the speed and traffic that flows up and down Hermosa’s main artery, covering more than one ward. This 1800 N - 3200 N stretch of Kostner is not continuously lined with businesses like Cicero or Pulaski, it is mostly residential. It contains access to 3 parks (Ken Well, Kelvyn and Hermosa Park), 3 schools (Barry, KPHS and Nixon) and 25,000 residents who need to navigate to their homes, shopping, work, and schools safely. I know, we live in a city, but can we make this better and safer? YES. We can.

How do we make Kostner Avenue as a whole safer for drivers and pedestrians? How do we make it safer for our kids on their way to school and walking to our parks on this street? And how do we recognize this narrower street stretch and stop sign bingo near and north of Kelvyn Park?

There have been ideas and costly proposals, but none of them make sense to many residents because we can’t copy-paste from spacious Irving Park solutions. CDOT does not recommend changing to one-way because the extra room would encourage speeding, but hey, they propose parking on one side of the street to....create even more room for speeders? We need a more creative, community-centric solution. And if we are to think and act like a community, we need an holistic approach that includes more than just the 31st ward.

There is currently a Change.org petition to call residents to action to increase safety. Do you have ideas on how to slow down traffic on Kostner Ave for Hermosa resident safety throughout the neighborhood? Something more creative than speed bumps (most residents agree on this already). Give a shout in the comments.

Sign the Safety Petition

If you have your own traffic conundrums in Hermosa not related to Kostner Ave, please shout out in the Contact page or comment below.

If you’d like to read the current proposals via the 31st Ward Alderman, Milly Santiago, and CDOT (located above), you can click on the images for the full PDFs, including versions in spanish.