Nearly 2,000 signatures are being hand-delivered to the Winnebago County Highway Board tonight, calling for "expedited" change to what many call a "deadly" intersection in the Town of Neenah.
Oakridge Road and County Highway CB frequently experiences traffic accidents, say neighbors, including a fatal crash in March that claimed the life of a 19-year-old woman.
The mother of the victim, Moriah Munsch, was among the 20 or so neighbors who attended tonight's meeting, calling for change.
But any change to the intersection will take more than a petition, say County leaders.
For those who navigate the intersection daily, the anxiety is only growing.
"I've had near misses myself there," admits Patti Purcell, who has lived near the intersection for 10 years.
Purcell drives to and from her children's school every day using the intersection, and remembers a deadly crash that happened a few years ago, around Easter Sunday.
"That left a lasting impression," says Purcell before Tuesday night's meeting. "I drive by that cross every single day, and I think about that man that was killed there."
Some accidents at the intersection have been caused by drivers running stop signs, "but a majority of the accidents are coming from people who are trying to navigate across the intersection," adds Purcell. "So that's what we're trying to get changed."
It's why concerned neighbor Corey Popp, who also lives nearby, is presenting 1,899 signatures on a petition, calling for a new plan, to the County Highway Board.
"And I think there's actually been more signatures on-line since then," adds Popp, who says traffic seems to only be getting worse at the intersection. "As you approach the intersection, you know it's not a good situation."
"It's quite complicated," says Highway Commissioner Ernest Winters, who is giving a presentation on the intersection to the Board tonight. "It's a broad intersection, there's a lot of lanes, there's a lot of traffic on CB, and there's a fair amount on Oakridge. We need to take a bigger, broader look."
Winters says the next steps will likely include an in-depth study of the intersection.
"I realize that there's a lot of emotion. I don't blame people at all for that," says Winters. "We don't like those types of things happening, obviously. But we can't just arbitrarily decide how we're going to fix this without doing the proper analysis, and studying the data."
"So, if that means a study is the next thing to be done, then let's do it," says Purcell. "Let's make some progress on this, and get it fixed in the next year, or two years."
Winters says a study will likely be conducted by a third-party consultant, and should take about a month or two.
Officials say the results of a third party study of the intersection would then be brought back to the County Board with a recommendation for approval.
