Residents of the Martin Luther King Subdivision have voiced increasing concerns about speeding and traffic safety in their Champaign neighborhood.

“Our neighborhood is very diverse and important, but the safety concerns are what we really need to work on,” Joseph Wilson, president of the MLK Subdivision neighborhood association, said in an interview with CU-CitizenAccess. 

The Martin Luther King Subdivision is a neighborhood located in Champaign, south of Bradley Avenue and west of Goodwin Avenue. It has been a renowned neighborhood in Champaign during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.

Neighborhood residents have met with city officials with their concerns and issues, primarily over traffic safety in the area. 

“Typically, these residents address these safety concerns at the Home Owner Association meetings or to city members directly,” Champaign Neighborhood Services Director Rob Kowalski said in an interview. 

Wilson said the neighborhood has faced various issues concerning motorists speeding, prompting residents to seek improvements to help mitigate the problem. One of these initiatives sought to install additional signage like stop signs, traffic lights and speed limit signs. 

But there are criteria to meet for the Public Works Department to install these in a timely manner, and the department operates through a request system. 

“Our Public Works Department has a traffic service request, where a group of residents may request a change in the traffic infrastructure that can be considered,” Kowalski said. 

As these requests are carefully reviewed by the city, various regulations must be met for the new signage to be installed. Stop signs, for example, need to meet certain requirements to be built. 

“For example, if you live on the back of a cul-de-sac where there’s like five cars a day, it’s not going to meet the warrants to put the stop signs there,” Kowalski said.

The neighborhood has also tried placing its own signage in the area to encourage drivers to slow down, Wilson said.

Overall in Champaign, city records obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request showed 31 vehicle-pedestrian collisions were reported to the Champaign Police Department from Jan. 1, 2024, to Aug. 13, 2025. There were 28 vehicle-bike collisions recorded in the same period. 

Neighborhood has long history

Honoring African American trailblazers, the MLK Subdivision now faces new challenges as residents push for safer streets and stronger city action.

An advancement of the urban renewal plan, the neighborhood replaced the Oak-Ash neighborhood, the only project that wasn’t replaced with low-income or government-assisted housing. The various street names in this subdivision came about to honor African Americans who made a historic difference in the community. 

“It’s inspiring to know that this neighborhood has this historic background to it,” Wilson said. 

Charles E. Phillips, the grandson of David Johnson, was a formerly enslaved person who moved to Champaign following the Civil War and was one of the founders of the Second Baptist Church in Champaign. 

Phillips was an advocate for affordable housing for African Americans in the community and was appointed as a member of the Champaign Housing Commission. Phillips Drive, located in the Martin Luther King Subdivision and near Boneyard Creek, was named in recognition of him.

Other prominent figures included Alvin G. Foxwell, Cecil Dewey Nelson, and Willie Holt, who also helped the expansion of MLK Subdivision and were honored with street names. 

Improvements can be delayed by costs, engineering needs

Wilson said some neighborhood residents have said one of the biggest difficulties is getting the Public Works Department to address issues promptly. 

“It diminishes your faith in the city,” Wilson said. “They talk about cost here, but then will go and build an entertainment center downtown.” 

The potential need to re-engineer an intersection for signage and the costs associated is one example of how a request can be delayed. 

On July 23, 2025, the Champaign Police Department organized a campaign to help reduce speeding regarding the statewide Speed Awareness Day. The department organized this initiative in collaboration with the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police. 

Through this campaign, Champaign Police officers dedicated 53 hours of enforcement to major routes and streets that impact neighborhoods. This resulted in 61 citations, including 40 for speeding, four for moving violations and one for distracted driving. 

“More enforcement would be beneficial; however, the reality is that we have so many other crime issues to deal with in conjunction with the shortage of sworn officers on the street,” Kowalski said.