Three fatal crashes in one block. What Lexington is doing to make West High Street safer.
The city of Lexington plans to install four speed tables on West High Street to improve traffic safety after a series of fatal crashes.
The speed tables, or raised crosswalks, will be placed on West High between Lexington Center Drive and Herlihy Street, the city said in a news release Friday. The area is near Rupp Arena. Design work will begin later this month, and construction will start in late spring or early summer.
“The first priority of local government is public safety, and that includes safety on our roads,” Mayor Linda Gorton said in the release. “Making improvements to West High Street will help calm traffic, and make the route safer for everyone.”
During a period of about four months last year, three people died in three separate collisions on the 800 block of West High Street, which is in the area where the speed tables will be placed, Herald-Leader archives indicate.
In September, Carlos Manuel Gonzalez Amaya, 32, of Lexington, died after he lost control of his vehicle and hit a utility pole on the 800 block of West High.
And last June, Christopher Smith, 31, of Lexington, died at the scene of a single-vehicle crash in which the vehicle hit a large metal utility pole on the same block.
The previous month, police said a driver with a blood-alcohol level of .159 was going more than 80 mph in a 25 mph zone when he crashed at the same location, resulting in the death of a 20-year-old passenger, Ralph Hirwa. The driver, Axel Ndagijimana, 21, was charged with second-degree manslaughter.
The city said the mayor and several council members worked together to look for ways to prevent collisions on West High, and the speed tables were one of the recommendations in a study commissioned by the city. Speed tables are longer than speed humps and are flat on top.
The city has already made several other changes to try to improve traffic safety in the area, including “lowering the speed limit to 25 mph, straightening out the curve at Herlihy Street, adding reflectors and rumble strips, narrowing travel lanes, installing water-filled barriers, and placing driver speed feedback and curve warning signage,” the release stated.
