(a) (1) Subject to subsection (a)(2), the Commissioner of Transportation and the Executive Director of Emergency Management and Communications are hereby authorized to cause the placement, erection, maintenance and removal of traffic-control devices as provided in the traffic code and Article X of Chapter 10-28, as required to make effective the traffic ordinance of the City, and as necessary to guide and warn traffic. Provided, however, that if City Council approval is required to install any traffic control device, City Council approval shall also be required to remove such device. The Commissioner of Transportation and the Executive Director of Emergency Management and Communications are also authorized to place and maintain temporary traffic-control devices as needed in connection with construction or special events or experimental devices for the purposes of an engineering study; provided, however, that such devices shall not be maintained for longer than 180 days without City Council approval. Upon the authorization of the Commissioner of Transportation or the Executive Director of Emergency Management and Communications, the actual erection, placement, maintenance, and removal of any traffic-control device shall be performed by the appropriate City department or bureau. All traffic-control devices placed and maintained pursuant to the traffic code shall conform to the manual and specifications approved by the State of Illinois Department of Transportation and shall so far as practicable be uniform as to type and location throughout the City. All traffic-control devices so erected and not inconsistent with the provisions of state law or this Code shall be official traffic-control devices.
(2) Subject to Section 9-64-200, the Comptroller shall have the sole authority to cause or direct the placement, erection, and maintenance of parking meters.
(3) In order to promote pedestrian safety, the Commissioner of Transportation is authorized to place or maintain temporary pedestrian safety awareness signs on the public ways of the city; provided, however, no such sign shall be placed or maintained on any traffic-control device or any traffic-control device pole. In determining the design, size, location, and other features of such signs, the Commissioner of Transportation shall consider the effect that such signs may have on traffic safety and aesthetics.
(b) The driver of any vehicle shall obey the instructions of any applicable traffic-control device placed in accordance with the provisions of the traffic code, unless otherwise directed by a police officer or traffic control aide.
(c) No operator of a vehicle shall attempt to avoid obedience to any traffic-control device by driving upon or through any private property, alley or traffic island.
(d) No provision of any traffic ordinance for which traffic-control devices are required shall be enforced against an alleged violator if at the time and place of the alleged violation an official device is not in proper position and sufficiently legible to be seen by an ordinary observant person. Whenever a particular section does not state that signs or other devices are required, such section shall be effective even though no signs or other devices are erected or in place.
Any act involving a traffic-control device that would be a violation of this Code if the device had been authorized or caused to be erected by the Commissioner of Transportation shall also be a violation of this Code if the act involved: (1) a traffic-control device authorized or caused to be erected by the Executive Director of Emergency Management and Communications; or (2) a parking meter installed and maintained: (i) by the Comptroller, or (ii) by a person (or such person's designee) acting pursuant to a concession agreement approved by the City Council for the operation, maintenance, improvement, installation, and removal of, and the collection of fees from, certain designated parking meters.
Any person violating subsections (b) or (c) of this section shall be fined no less than $90.00 and no more than $300.00 and may be required to perform reasonable public service.
(Added Coun. J. 7-12-90, p. 18634; Amend Coun. J. 12-11-91, p. 10832; Amend Coun. J. 11-6-02, p. 96501, § 2; Amend Coun. J. 12-4-02, p. 100729, § 2; Amend Coun. J. 12-7-05, p. 64870, § 1.9; Amend Coun. J. 12-4-08, p. 50506, § 9; Amend Coun. J. 9-8-11, p. 7216, § 2; Amend Coun, J. 11-16-11, p. 13798, Art. I, § 7; Amend Coun. J. 10-28-15, p. 11951, Art. X, § 11; Amend Coun. J. 5-31-23, p. 427, Art. I, § 2)