MISSOULA — Jessica Rich was inside her house on October 13 when she heard a sound that she’s been dreading, one that will stick with her.
A truck ran a stop sign at the corner of Flynn Lane and England Boulevard in Missoula’s Pleasant View neighborhood, forcing another car into a telephone pole and Rich’s front yard, just feet from her room.
“It was horrifying just hearing that sound and I keep hearing it. I keep hearing, hearing that sound, hearing the squealing brakes and the crunch of metal and the rev of the engine,” Rich said. “I keep seeing her face, I didn't get any sleep last night.”
With Missoula growing rapidly, the city is working on development projects to better connect parts of town, reduce traffic and improve safety.
Two years ago, as part of the Mullan BUILD project, England Boulevard was extended out, connecting it to Reserve, and a stop sign was posted on Flynn Lane.
“This is the third accident I've seen at this intersection since they opened England. We didn't have any before that since we've been here, about a year and a half, two years,” Rich said. “We had, my partner and I, talked about it and I would tell him ‘you know it's going to happen, it's going to happen’ and the first time I heard it, I just yelled out ‘it happened’ and I ran outside.”
As Rich told MTN about the accident, two cars nearly collided in the intersection after one blew through the stop sign on Flynn Lane.
Neighbors say this is a constant occurrence. Since the Mullan BUILD project, they say they regularly see drivers speeding, ignoring stop signs and even drag racing at night.
“Actually a lot of us are concerned here in the neighborhood because it's a very quiet neighborhood and peaceful and calm. There's been a big increase in the number of accidents and there's a through street that used to be a stop street and so now people are just racing through there without even stopping,” said Kathryn Hungerford, who lives in the neighborhood.
Since the October 13 crash — which seriously injured one driver — neighborhood calls for the city to step in have grown louder.
“I think the surprise has been that all the planning looked so good on paper and now that it's in action, in real life, it is not working,” Hungerford said. “And we would just ask that it be looked at again.”
City officials presented the results of a traffic engineering study to the neighborhood council leadership on October 17 and listened to public comments.
The study confirmed what the neighbors have been seeing on the ground: high speeds on England, not stopping on Flynn and a few crashes.
Jeremy Keene, Public Works and Mobility director for the City of Missoula, said the city is listening.
“What we want to do when we hear concerns is spend a little bit of time to really understand the problem before we start putting solutions out there,” Keene said. “We want to go back and investigate, see what's happening and then make some recommendations.”
Keene said they are looking into options to calm speeds, enforce the Flynn stop sign and move forward with feedback from residents.
Many of the neighbors, extremely shaken by last week’s crash, are hoping the incident will at least lead to some positive change.
“I don't think it would take much to make this a much safer intersection. I really hope it doesn't take deaths for that to happen, which I believe it almost did,” said Rich.
