Cary plans fewer lanes on Walnut Street where 6-year-old was killed
Months after a 6-year-old girl was hit and killed in Cary, neighbors are pushing for a safer street.
Joselin Hernandez, 6, was hit and killed Dec. 29 on Walnut Street across from R.S. Dunham Park near downtown Cary. Police said the driver was speeding.
The town of Cary is moving forward with plans for a narrower street and added crosswalk between Cary High School and the Cary Downtown Park, near Dunham Park, where Joselin was hit.
Neighbors complain drivers speed 45 mph in the area, which has a speed limit of 35 mph, and are calling for change.
Catherine Williams and Liz Anderson Simmons have logged a lot of steps crossing neighborhoods along Walnut Street, where they walk.
"Cars drive way over the speed limit, looking at their phone," Williams said. "I was almost hit one day."
"I was joking that it feels like playing Frogger crossing Walnut Street," Simmons added.
Now, a streetside memorial created for Joselin days after Christmas is a constant reminder of what's at stake.
"When the little girl was killed, it was like – oh, this is not a joke," Simmons said. "This is serious business and something has to be done about it."
The women became safety advocates for Walnut Street, collecting more than 500 signatures calling on the town to make a change.
"Since the unfortunate accident occurred out there, there’s been a lot of citizen participation," said Russ Overton, Cary's deputy town manager.
Cary has resumed work on a 10-year-old project to give Walnut Street a "road diet," with crews already surveying the street.
Walnut Street will go from 2 lanes to 1 lane in each direction, separated by a median, near Dunham Park.
"What that does is, especially for pedestrians crossing the road, [allow them] to not have to navigate so many lanes of traffic," Overton said.
The town will add dedicated bike lanes and flashing lights in the pavement at the Dunham Park crosswalk to alert drivers that a pedestrian is in the road.
The new Downtown Cary Park opened in November, and the downtown area is growing.
"Walnut Street is a main corridor into downtown," Overton said. "A lot of people are coming to the downtown park, so it makes a lot of sense to do this right now."
The changes can't come soon enough for neighbors-turned-safety-advocates.
"We live here and we care and have great neighbors," Williams said. "We want to be safe."
The town told WRAL News the upgraded crosswalk at Dunham Park will be complete this summer. Cary is also working with the state Department of Transportation to install a lighted crosswalk at Cary High School.
Construction on Walnut Street is expected to start later this summer and take a year to complete.
The driver police said hit Joselin, Andrew Brady Everett, 50, of Cary, was charged with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle, felony involuntary manslaughter, failure to reduce speed, exceeding the posted speed limit and careless and reckless driving.
Family members said Joselin was playing outside near the sidewalk in front of her house in December when a car suddenly hit her.
A search warrant obtained Tuesday by WRAL News references Everett's "lack of remorse" at the time of the crash.
On Thursday evening, a 4-year-old girl was taken to the hospital after running onto East Chatham Street and into a car in downtown Cary. The girl was not seriously injured.
