Yesterday there was a second fatality for the year at the intersection of Walnut and Wood Streets. I'm kind of surprised there aren't more. It's a terrible intersection to navigate. If you're traveling eastbound (more or less) on Wood Street, there is an abandoned apartment building on your left that completely blocks your view of any cars traveling south on Walnut, and there are usually cars parked to the right which block your view of vehicles coming up the hill. So, typically, you're faced with two choices: either edge slowly out into the middle of the street until you can see the cars that are about to hit you; or just floor it and hope for the best.
The nearby intersection of Walnut, North Walnut and East Farm is almost as bad. There the visibility is okay, but there is absolutely no way to tell who has the right of way.
Making these intersections all-way stops would be a huge safety improvement, maybe even enough to prevent further deaths.
I wouldn't mind seeing the empty apartment building torn down to widen the intersection. Maybe they could put in some parking spaces for the restaurants. And while I'm dreaming, maybe they could also build a playground in the empty lot on the east side of Walnut. There aren't any parks in walking distance, so the kids in this neighborhood have no where to play except the street and other peoples' yards (which is how a boy on Wood Street wound up getting attacked by a dog recently).
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