NORTH RIDGEVILLE, Ohio — Six months after a tragedy near a North Ridgeville intersection, safety changes are beginning to take shape.
On Tuesday, construction crews and machinery at Lear Nagle and Lorain Roads were making one of the city’s busiest intersections even busier. Several yards from where workers were surveying and breaking up concrete, fading ribbons and flowers are still tied to a road sign.
"Every time you see it, it reminds you of what happened,” said Kevin Maclean, the co-owner of Hurricane Laser Car Wash.
The business on the intersection’s northwest side is just steps away from where a 16-year-old girl was hit crossing a busy street in November.
Family told News 5 that Violet Gustafson had been walking back to work at McDonald’s after getting a drink at Starbucks when she was hit by a car. The Lorain County JVS junior died from her injuries.
RELATED: 16-year-old struck, killed by vehicle in North Ridgeville
"I’m sure when that girl got hit, [the driver] probably never even saw her because they were going so fast,” said Maclean.
He said the addition of new businesses in the area and overall growth in the city in recent years have made the traffic flow challenging in the busy intersection.
“We’ve had a lot of things happen on this corner,” he said, recalling a fatal car crash near the McDonald’s and several minor crashes just outside of his business.
After Violet’s death, her family told News 5 the tragedy highlighted a need for safety improvements.
“I just want to make sure this never happens to anyone else’s family again,” Violet’s mother, Corinne Gustafson, said in the days after her daughter’s death.
Shortly after the incident, several classmates started an online petition, calling for crosswalks on the southwest and southeast sides of the intersection.
The city said it was already working with a firm to design pedestrian safety improvements.
In January, the city announced it had received preliminary plans from its traffic consultant.
RELATED: Safety improvement plans moving forward after 16-year-old killed in North Ridgeville intersection
On Tuesday, the physical work began.
"Overall, it’s just about improving the safety for everybody involved,” said North Ridgeville Mayor Kevin Corcoran.
He said the improvements will include sidewalk and accessibility upgrades, new pedestrian signals, measures to improve visibility and the addition of crosswalks over Lorain Road between the Starbucks and car wash and over Lear Nagle Road between the car wash and Sheetz gas station.
The mayor said the city started addressing pedestrian safety just hours after the tragedy in November.
"Unfortunately, it did take the tragedy to bring it to our attention. When we were looking at that intersection previously, we were looking more at the vehicular safety,” he said. “That was what really accelerated all of it. It took that event for us to recognize that we needed to move quickly.”
As growth continues in the area, neighbors like Maclean said they hope the changes successfully prevent future tragedies.
"Oh yeah, big time. My heart goes out to the mom and the family,” he said.
The mayor said the pedestrian improvement project should be completed by the end of June. A separate, more comprehensive traffic plan for the area is still in its funding stages.
Catherine Ross is the Lorain County reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on X @CatherineRossTV, on Facebook CatherineRossTV or email her at Catherine.Ross@wews.com.
