A deadly crash last week has reignited concerns about a dangerous intersection at Illinois Route 50 and County Line Road, between Peotone and Manteno in Chicago's far south suburbs.

Critics said the system designed to improve safety moves too slowly, and is costing lives.

A quiet rural road straddling Will and Kankakee counties can instantly erupt into chaos.

Manhattan Fire Protection District Deputy Chief David Piper responded to a call on Friday, Oct. 17, after a minivan and semi-trailer truck collided at a very familiar address: Route 50 and County Line Road.

"There was three people still trapped inside of the minivan," he said.

Manteno Community Fire Protection District responded to the crash too.

"The scene was chaotic," said Manteno Community Fire Protection District Chief Rick Petersen said.

Seven people were taken to the hospital. Two of them did not survive.

The crash hit both chiefs hard.

"Already this year, in 2025, we've already responded to 16 accidents. So we've hit our average already. We already have four fatalities," Piper said.

"It makes you sick to your stomach that you're not making progress, even though you're seeing the accidents, you're involved with the patients, you hear form all the patients and the family members," Petersen said.

The two fire districts respond to more than a dozen crashes at the intersection every year. They explained that the layout is part of the problem. The roads intersect at a tough angle. Train tracks complicate the situation further. Then there's the 55 mph speed limit.

"I would say they're doing upwards of 70mph on this road," Piper said. "It's an extremely dangerous intersection."

But that's not news to anyone.

Illinois State Sen. Patrick Joyce (D-Essex) said he's long been aware of the problem, and has been fighting for updates for years. They're coming, but very slowly.

In April 2024, the Illinois Department of Transportation installed additional signage and flashing lights.

IDOT crews were working at the intersection on Friday to make it a four-way stop, weather permitting, within the next few weeks.

The ultimate goal of the installation of a traffic signal is still years away. IDOT said it's part of a larger project for which the engineering study is still being completed.

Joyce said he'd like to find a way to expedite that.

"There's got to be an expedited process so that we can, you know, for public safety, so we can save lives," he said.

Joyce said he's ready to introduce legislation to speed up the process, if that's what it takes.

Piper and Petersen said the change can't come soon enough.

"How many more people would die while we're waiting for that intersection to have a fully functioning signal?" Piper said.

IDOT's full statement is below:

In April 2024 the department installed additional signage to increase driver awareness of the intersection, including advance signs with amber flashing beacons to alert motorists of the upcoming intersection, Stop Signs were installed on the left side of the road with Cross Traffic Does Not Stop sign below (these were in addition to the existing Stop Sign with the Cross Traffic Does Not Stop sign on the right side of the road), along with installing red flashing beacons on the top of all of the Stop Signs.  

We are also working to convert the intersection of Illinois 50 at County Line Road to an all-way stop. Which involves modifying the pavement markings to eliminate the multi-lane approaches on Illinois 50 and providing turn lanes for storing vehicles during train events. We estimate that work will be completed, weather permitting, within the next few weeks.

Additionally, IDOT has been working on preliminary engineering and environmental studies for improvements on Illinois 50 (Governors Highway) from Wilmington-Peotone Road to County Line Road in unincorporated Peotone and Manteno Townships, in Will and Kankakee counties. It's included in the department's FY 2026-2031 Proposed Highway & Multimodal Improvement Program.  The engineering study for the overall improvement is projected to be completed by the end of this year, the proposed project will then move into Phase ll Design (contract plan preparation and land acquisition). Current engineering efforts are targeted to enable a contract letting in the middle years of the multi-year program, contingent upon plan readiness, land acquisition and funding availability through future annual legislative appropriations.

The proposed improvements are expected to involve resurfacing and restriping Illinois 50 to provide one travel lane per direction and the installation of a traffic signal at the intersection of Illinois 50 and County Line Road.