Chicago Lawn residents say construction project is sending cars, trucks on dangerous detours down their blocks
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Residents of the Southwest Side's Chicago Lawn neighborhood are complaining that their cars have been left with dented bumpers, dinged-up doors, and mirrors left broken and dangling.
As CBS 2's Marybel González reported Tuesday night, the neighbors are blaming a nearby construction project they say is creating dangerous detours through their neighborhood.
A line of cars ignoring stop signs, semi-trailer trucks attempting to make a U-turn on a residential street – these are just some of the incidents Chicago Lawn residents like Ernie Carrillo have captured on camera over the past five weeks.
The scene is near the intersection of 65th Street and Homan Avenue – just steps away from John F. Eberhart Elementary School.
"I'm walking my dog every day, and that's when I see this happen," Carrillo said.
The influx in traffic in the neighborhood is due to road construction along Kedzie Avenue. West 65th Street – a one-way street – is the last street that any northbound traffic can turn onto before Kedzie Avenue is closed.
That means all cars and big trucks have to cut through the residential streets to make it onto the main roads.
Fed up with the constant congestion, residents say they have reached out to their alderman's offices with their concerns.
"They said that they were going to try and do something," Carrillo said. "But so far, they haven't done anything."
But things have only gotten worse. Jorge Flores and Luis Lopez say their vehicles – which were parked outside of their homes – were sideswiped by a reckless driver earlier this month.
"He just took off. He was speeding, and hit four cars," Flores said. "Two of those four cars, two are mine."
"My car got hit worst out of all the other cars. I've been struggling. I have to be asking for like favors - friends, coworkers, even family to give me a ride to work and back," added Lopez. "It's hard, because that's the main car I had."
No one has been injured as a result of the traffic congestion yet, but residents are asking for solutions to the road construction before that happens.
"They can run somebody over," said Lopez. "You never know what could happen."
We reached out to the offices of Ald. Edward Burke (14th) and Ald. Silvana Tabares (23rd) for comment. We also contacted the Chicago Department of Transportation to get a timeline of when construction will be finished.
As of late Tuesday, we had not heard back.
