Latest accident on Hillsborough underscores need for light
Students continue to run across Hillsborough Avenue to school, despite several accidents.(Photo: WTSP)
Tampa, FL -- A year ago this week, students who live at the Meridian Pointe Apartments at 25th Street and Hillsborough Avenue were being offered a shuttle bus to get to school.
A reaction to the tragedy of a fellow student, a neighbor, struck and killed as she tried to dart across the busy road.
The same area has been the scene of several pedestrian and bicyclist accidents. It happened again Friday, as once again, police and EMS units rushed to the scene of a person struck by a vehicle along Hillsborough Avenue.
Marshall Brown says she watched in helpless horror as a little girl riding her bicycle tried to cross in the middle of the busy street – not at the crosswalk. She was clipped by a utility truck.
The girl, knocked from her bike, was scratched but OK. This time.
"Thank God, thank God," said Brown, "because look how big that truck is."
BACKGROUND:2 sisters struck walking to school
Just over a year ago the outcome was tragically different as two sisters heading to Middleton High School darted across the same spot, when they were struck by a car. Norma Velasquez-Cabrera, 15, died.
"It's dangerous for the people who stay there," said Scheelender Sauveu, who also lives at Meridian Pointe. The complex is across from a shopping center, and crosswalks are several blocks in either direction.
All day, every day, people risk their lives trying to get from one side of the bust road to the other. The children sometimes use it as a short cut to get to school.
In reaction to last year's tragedy, the Florida Department of Transportation performed a safety study, and determined a full traffic light intersection was, in fact, warranted.
But a year later, there is still no light, No crosswalk.
"We were hoping for August, but it will probably be toward the end of the year when it will be operational," said FDOT spokesperson Kris Carson.
Carson says they've been working with the City of Tampa to secure the right of way to install the lights. That's taken time.
"We have to make sure the necessary property is purchased because you can't just put up a signal on property we don't own. So now we are estimating the end of the year," said Carson.
WHAT'S BEING DONE:See what changes FDOT is making at intersection
FDOT does have additional plans to install pedestrian crosswalks about every quarter mile along the same stretch of Hillsborough Ave.
But parents like Camille Collins, who has two daughters of her own at Meridian Pointe, worries each day without a signal could bring more tragic scenes.
"I wish they would bring one, because we do need one right here,"
FDOT says there were 51 pedestrian accidents between 2009 and 2014 along the same stretch of Hillsborough between Nebraska Avenue and 50th Street. That includes four fatalities.
Sadly, a few days ago, that number increased yet again when a woman was struck and killed by a truck just a few blocks away crossing Hillsborough.
Tampa officials say they now have the north side property shored-up, and hope to have the south side of Hillsborough secured next month. Once the property is secured, they can begin the process of installing the intersection.
That is estimated to begin in August or September, with hopes of having a light in place by the end of the year.
More background on the intersection:
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