The village wants to know if paint and a few plastic posts can make Sherwood Road safer and more inviting. This summer, it plans to find out — if the Village Board agrees.

La Grange Park is considering installing painted curb extensions, flexible delineator posts, and custom asphalt art at two intersections along Sherwood Road — at Homestead and at Woodlawn Avenue. A Village Board vote is expected this month, with installation targeted for June or July if the project is approved.

A Deliberate Experiment

The project draws on what planners call tactical urbanism: low-cost, temporary changes to public space that let a community test an idea before committing to permanent construction. "You can come in and use planning and design approaches that are low cost, relatively temporary, and then scaled to other locations if they are successful," said Derek Rockwell, the village's senior planner and project coordinator.

Speed data, turning movement counts, and crash statistics would be collected before and after installation. Toward the end of the roughly 12-month pilot, the village plans to survey residents and business owners on whether the changes worked. If feedback is positive, the village would begin budgeting for permanent construction through its capital funds. If not, the posts come out.

Built for Cars, Not for Crossing

The two intersections were identified in the Village Market Streetscape Improvement Plan, which grew out of public engagement and called for making the area more accessible to pedestrians, cyclists, and wheelchair users — not just drivers. Homestead and Sherwood in particular has drawn consistent concern. "It's a very large intersection," Rockwell said. "Anecdotally, and from community feedback, it feels unsafe to cross" — a result of wide turning radii that allow vehicles to take corners without slowing much. The painted bump-outs and posts would visually and physically tighten those corners, shortening the distance pedestrians have to cross.

The area sees a dense mix of users. Plymouth Place, a senior living facility whose residents walk the neighborhood regularly, is nearby. So are the public library, Memorial Park, Jewel, and Aldi. The streetscape plan's core goal is shifting the balance — making the corridor work better for everyone who moves through it on foot, not just everyone behind a wheel.

Giving the Village Market a Distinct Identity

The project would carry an aesthetic dimension beyond traffic safety. Last year the village completed a branding and identity plan, and the Village Market pilot could be among its first significant real-world applications. Beyond street banners and other early implementations, this would put the new visual identity somewhere residents encounter it in the course of daily life.

The pavement art would incorporate the village's new branding motifs, deliberately designed to stand out rather than blend in. "We want people to notice it's there," Rockwell said, "beyond just those delineators that vehicles are maneuvering around."

That ambition connects to a concept planners call placemaking — giving a commercial area a distinct enough character that people feel oriented, recognize where they are, and are drawn to linger. "The hope is it becomes a destination," Rockwell said. The Village Market sits alongside the 31st Street corridor as one of the village's two main commercial areas, and the streetscape plan has been building toward this kind of investment: the kind that turns a quick errand into a reason to stick around.

A Chance for Residents to Get Involved

Among the community engagement activities being considered is a painting day, in which residents, business owners, and other stakeholders could help apply the pavement art themselves. Rockwell said the idea is uncommon in suburban settings. "You'll see some of these projects more in urban areas like Chicago," he said, "but getting people excited about projects that are going on in Village Market is an important thing to do."

The village has already completed concrete and accessibility improvements at both intersections. An artistic design contractor has not yet been selected. The Village Board is expected to take up the project this month.