Work has finished on converting the intersection of Illinois 394 and Burville Road in Crete Township, Will County, into a restricted crossing U-turn (RCUT). The project cost $4.1 million and followed a 2019 engineering and environmental study by District 1 that identified the need for safety improvements due to frequent and severe crashes at the location.
Since the intersection did not meet criteria for installing traffic signals, District 1 evaluated alternative designs. Carlos Feliciano, head of the District 1 In-House Project Studies Unit, led the project. It was approved in 2023 and completed in 2025.
This is the first RCUT intersection in District 1, though similar designs have been used elsewhere to address high-speed rural intersections with success. RCUTs change how drivers cross or turn at intersections by requiring minor road traffic to make a right turn followed by a U-turn instead of turning left or going straight through. This reduces complex decision-making and lowers the risk of severe collisions such as angle and turning crashes, which had been common at Burville Road.
Carlos Feliciano said: “The RCUT is suitable for and adaptable to a wide variety of circumstances, ranging from isolated rural high-speed locations to urban and suburban high-volume multimodal corridors. It is a competitive and less costly alternative to constructing an interchange or a modern roundabout.”
Data from the Federal Highway Administration indicates that RCUT installations can increase traffic throughput by 30 percent, reduce network intersection travel time by 40 percent, and decrease fatal and injury crashes by up to 54 percent under conditions similar to those at Burville Road.
RCUTs are one example of new engineering methods being used across Illinois to improve road safety.
