After years of complaints and a long legal fight, the notorious hard right turn from Cicero Avenue onto Cal‑Sag Road in Crestwood has finally been rebuilt. Engineers tightened the curve, shifted the white stop line closer to approaching traffic, and installed new traffic signals and cameras this spring. Residents and critics who once blasted the corner as a “camera trap” now point to sharper lane markings and freshly added right‑turn arrows as a clear upgrade from the old setup.
What I‑Team reporters saw
On a recent return visit, reporters from ABC7 Chicago found the revamped intersection in full operation, with new signals in place and longtime opponents grudgingly giving some credit. Mark Wallace of Citizens to Abolish Red Light Cameras told the I‑Team, “They’ve completely redesigned this turn,” and said the changes deal directly with the awkward sight lines that had caught drivers off guard in earlier years.
What the village paperwork shows
Village traffic evaluations and follow‑up documents show the red‑light camera system at Cicero and Cal‑Sag first went live in June 2016. The system was then deactivated and removed in June 2023 while construction was underway. A follow‑up evaluation filed in May 2022, which includes crash counts, traffic volumes, and system details submitted to the Illinois Department of Transportation, notes IDOT as the source for the crash data. The state has been busy in the same corridor as well, with IDOT announcing repairs to the nearby 127th Street bridge over the Cal‑Sag Channel and detours that pushed traffic onto Cicero and Cal‑Sag during the project window.
The money behind the lights
Freedom‑of‑information records reviewed by ABC7 Chicago show that the old camera setup was a serious cash machine, generating more than $17 million in municipal revenue between 2016 and 2022. Annual totals ranged from about $899,412 in 2016 to more than $3.4 million in 2018. The village told the I‑Team that citation reports for the new cameras, which were installed in early 2026, “have not yet been reconciled,” so the post‑upgrade revenue picture is still unclear.
Where the legal fight stands
The intersection’s history of tickets also produced a class‑action lawsuit, filed in October 2017, that claims motorists were cited for right turns where the signal was not clearly visible. In 2022, a Cook County judge allowed parts of the case to move forward, and the litigation remains active. That status comes from reporting in the Cook County Record, which covered the court’s post‑motion rulings.
Broader fallout and background
Problems tied to automated enforcement in the southwest suburbs surfaced at the same time a federal corruption probe was zeroing in on red‑light camera programs. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago announced in November 2021 that former Crestwood Mayor Louis Presta had pleaded guilty to charges involving benefits he received from a red‑light camera services representative. That prosecution fueled broader scrutiny of camera contracts and where systems were installed throughout the region.
What drivers should know now
For motorists rolling up to the intersection today, the rules are more clearly marked. Drivers are expected to stop at the newly painted white line, which serves as the legal stop point, and to follow the dedicated right‑turn arrows when they appear. The Village of Crestwood continues to hold red‑light camera hearings for contested notices at the Civic Center and posts system reports and court information on its website for anyone looking to challenge a ticket.
Village officials say the construction reflects broader corridor and safety projects rather than a direct response to past criticism. At the same time, plaintiffs in the class action are still pressing for refunds and a judicial ruling on whether the earlier camera placement complied with federal signal‑visibility rules. The corner may look cleaner and clearer now, but the legal and financial questions that first put it under the microscope have yet to be settled.
