RALSTON, Neb – Following another recent crash near 80th and Q, Ralston residents are urging the city to take additional steps to keep their neighborhood safe.
Neighbors say more changes are needed to keep homes safe.
According to the city, speed bumps cannot be installed because the road is an emergency route.
“The streets are very narrow here, we have lower speed limits to make the streets safe but it is just a basic disregard for the law,” Ashley Cap told me.
Ashley Cap, a Ralston neighbor, wants something done about the stretch of road that leads to Main Street Ralston. According to Cap, people speed, ignore stop signs, and drunk drivers have crashed into yards and even homes.
“The streets are very narrow here, we have lower speed limits to make the streets safe but it is just a basic disregard for the law,” she told me.
In early April, reporter Greta Goede spoke with Cap and other homeowners after a car collided with a guard rail near 80th and Q, crashing into a lawn. At the end of May, another vehicle missed the turn and drove through several backyards at the same intersection. For weeks, neighbors have told KMTV that they are afraid to let their children play outside.
“How does make you feel seeing this and also seeing kids walking and biking up and down these streets?” “Terrified,” Cap said.
KMTV contacted the city to see what more could be done about the speeding and drunk drivers on the road.
A spokesperson told KMTV that because the road into the main street is an emergency route, speed bumps cannot be installed, and the guard rail near 80th and Q cannot be extended further due to gas lines. Although the city is installing flashing lights near the intersection to warn drivers of the curves and speed, neighbors tell KMTV it is insufficient.
“We want to make these changes, but our community feels like nobody is listening to us,” Cap told me.
After KMTV first reported on the crashes, the city installed a new, longer guardrail near 80th and Q. Weeks later, another guard was stationed outside Cap’s house, but neighbors said they will continue to sound the alarm until more changes are implemented.
According to Ralston, more patrols are being deployed, but there is insufficient manpower to monitor the street on a regular basis. KMTV contacted the Ralston Police Department but is still waiting for a response.
According to the city, the flashing signs will be installed this month.