'People Are Flying': City Looks To Make Chateau Street Safer After Pedestrian Killed In Hit-And-Run
PITTSBURGH, Pa. (KDKA) — Some residents describe Chateau Street in the Manchester neighborhood as the Indy 500 Speedway. Numerous accidents and even fatalities have happened on this stretch of roadway and now the residents are working with the city to find a solution.
"We have people that have video of cars drag racing each other on the street so people are well over 50 even 60 miles per hour sometimes," said Nick Ross with Walk Ride Northside.
The speed limit is marked as 35 mph, but the residents of the Manchester neighborhood have no problem saying speeding is a problem.
"People are flying down Chateau we see it everyday," one resident tells KDKA.
Just last Friday, Pittsburgh Police said a pedestrian was killed in a hit-and-run on Chateau Street. They are still investigating that accident, but it's not the first in the area.
"I think people are going to do what they want to do regardless, but I do think signs and trying to bring lights or some awareness to pedestrian safety would lessen the amount of accidents on this road," Resident Ebone Harris said.
After months of planning, the city of Pittsburgh is planning to take those next steps in making this street safer.
The city's concept presented to the Manchester Citizens Corporation on Wednesday includes narrowing lanes, eliminating lanes, improving lighting and installing an electronic pedestrian crossing sign. These changes, a long time coming for the residents on the North Side.
"You know internal neighborhoods, we see the size of streets are more scaled appropriately and don't have a lot of issues; but when you get to the edges where our highways have come in, that's where you see the high speeds and aggressive drivers," Ross said.
The city said they plan to start implementing these safety changes in the spring when construction season starts back up.
