SALT LAKE CITY — Neighbors in Sugar House are sounding the alarm about dangerous streets in their neck of the woods.
Multiple people voiced their concerns over the crosswalk at Zenith Avenue and Richmond Street to the city council on Tuesday night.
“I use this crosswalk at least four times a day to bring my daughter to and from daycare, and I'm terrified every single time,” said Tina Hernandez.
“Cars come flying down this street around a blind corner, often driving more than 40-50 miles per hour,” Hernandez added, noting the speed limit there is 30.
Just off the 1300 East exit in Sugar House lies this neighborhood at a crossroads.
“It's a really quiet neighborhood with lots of families, people who’ve been here a really long time,” said Avery Edenfield. “We want to walk and do things as a family because we have these things that are really close.”
As the area around the intersection of Richmond and Zenith grows, what they don’t love is the heavier, faster flow of traffic.
“People come off the highway up there and then they’re just flying down,” said Sabrina Jeppsson.
Edenfield says walking with a child raises the stakes so much higher.
“I’ve seen people see me and then speed up to try to beat me across. Pedestrian versus car only ends up one way,” Hernandez said.
She loves how close Little Geniuses daycare is to her, but Hernandez tells FOX 13 she’d rather not do the walk at all now.
“Two weeks ago, I was involved in a gnarly car accident,” she said.
One car had stopped for her and her 1-year-old daughter Penny, but another tried to speed up and go around.
“[That car] slammed into the back of the car that stopped," Hernandez explained to the city council. “Both cars spun out of the intersection, heading for me. I no longer feel safe to use this crosswalk by foot.”
They’ve made a request for a "HAWK signal" through the city’s Community Improvement Program (CIP).
“Because it’s so expensive, we’ve tried everything that’s cheaper to do first,” Edenfield said. He says his wife was the one to put together the constituent CIP request.
Their efforts so far include a bus stop moved further down the road, flags, a crosswalk sign, and flashing lights — but they say it’s not been enough.
The signal is valued at $500,000, and a similar effort through CIP last year failed.
But they’re hopeful city leaders will see the value this time, because the stress lingers with every step they take.
“Something terrible is going to happen, and I don’t want them to wait that long,” Jeppsson said.
“I just need to know that we’re moving in the right direction,” Hernandez said. “Otherwise, I might have to move out of this neighborhood and I really don’t want to do that.”
Council members say they will soon adopt the budget, therefore determining the total funds for the CIP program. But it won’t be until later in the summer when they decide which projects — like this proposed HAWK signal — will be allocated funding. That has to be done by September 1, 2025, according to the city’s website.
DRIVEN TO CHANGE
