What is an unmarked crosswalk?

By Steven Vance On March 9, 2012 · 7 Comments

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At the corner of Schaumburg and Barrington Roads in Schaumburg, Illinois, sits an unmarked crosswalk. Can you see it? There are no pedestrian signals here, so follow the signals for cars. Good luck. 

I posted my “Can we cross Belmont Avenue?” story in full to EveryBlock to get some reactions from neighbors who would be familiar with that specific crossing. As I suspected, there would be confusion about what the laws in Illinois say about the required behaviors of drivers when they encounter people trying to cross the street.

From Active Transportation Alliance promotional materials (pdf), it says,

As of 2010, Illinois drivers must come to a complete stop for pedestrians in all crosswalks. Previous law required them to yield and stop when necessary.

So what constitutes a crosswalk? Does there have to be paint on the ground from curb to curb? The answer is simply no. The legal definition of a crosswalk in Illinois may be confusing on the first read, but it introduces the concept of the “unmarked crosswalk”. The same promotional materials from Active Transportation Alliance, a leading proponent of the law, HB43, say “a crosswalk is present whenever a sidewalk leads into the street”. There doesn’t even need to be a sidewalk on the opposite side of the street.

Just for fun, here’s the least useful crosswalk I’ve seen in Chicago.

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Read some research on the effects of marked and unmarked crosswalk, from 2005 on the Federal Highway Administration’s website (FHWA).

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Tom-Hagglund/1381355153 Tom Hagglund

    The Illinois requirement for defining an unmarked crosswalk is bizarre, if a sidewalk must be present, leading into the street at an intersection.  Using that definition, it would be illegal for a pedestrian to cross at an intersection in a farming area, with no sidewalks in sight.  Ditto for some Chicago suburbs which don’t provide sidewalks at all: I regularly walk along Green Bay Road between Buckley & Scranton, in North Chicago/Lake Bluff where the majority of the road has no sidewalk or path on either side of the road, just grass and woods.  It would be interesting to determine if, in Chicago, an unmarked crosswalk exists midblock from alley corner to alley corner, or if alleys don’t count as intersections.

    • http://twitter.com/aka60643 AKA60643

      We have some T intersections in Chicago where one or more possible crossing locations don’t have marked crosswalks.  I’m not sure about your alley to alley suggestion.

    • http://www.stevevance.net/ Steven Vance

      Good questions. 

      I guess that there is more legislation than this about how to cross roads when intersections are miles apart and without intersections. 

      And I wonder if alleys are considered part of the “highway system” (even though we think of the Kennedy when we think of highways). Sidenote: All roads are called highways in state legislation. Alleys are not highways, but may have some reference in the “highway code”. 

  • http://twitter.com/aka60643 AKA60643

    Take a look at 79th St. going west from Western to Pulaski and beyond.  Only a fraction of these intersections have marked crosswalks.   This long section of the street is designed to promote speed and prevent pedestrian crossing – charming.  ;)

    • http://www.stevevance.net/ Steven Vance

      “This long section of the street is designed to promote speed and prevent pedestrian crossing”. Who were those people? Dang. 

      Have you ever learned the history of Western Avenue and Gregory Street in Blue Island, Illinois? IDOT turned Western Avenue, a regular business-oriented, neighborhood street through the center of town, into a one-way highway. They rammed the opposite direction onto Gregory Street. Built new viaducts, basically slicing and dicing an historical suburban downtown. 

  • Frank Zurek

    Interesting.  I never knew “a crosswalk is present whenever a sidewalk leads into the street.”  I always thought motorists only had to stop at marked crosswalks.  I will adjust my driving habits accordingly (but not my walking habits, at least out here in the suburbs).

    • http://www.stevevance.net/ Steven Vance

      You walk in the suburbs? How’s that even possible? ;)