OGDEN -- After two deaths in the past six months and a lot of near misses, the Utah Department of Transportation has put up a crosswalk along Wall Avenue outside a homeless shelter.
The crosswalk was painted at the intersection of Wall Avenue and Binford Street. Signs warning of the pedestrian crossing were also put up. UDOT said it would also be installing constantly flashing lights to warn drivers of the crosswalk.
"Motorists will now have much more of a warning that people are crossing here," said UDOT spokesman Vic Saunders. "I think that's been the issue and we've tried to solve that."
The crosswalk was put in place after the deaths of David Soares and his friend, Daniel Thobe, who both stayed at St. Anne's Center. Soares was killed crossing Wall Ave. on Christmas Eve(Ogden police have not located the driver who hit him and fled). Thobe was killed two months later crossing the same section of road.
The men's deaths prompted outrage from people who stayed at the homeless shelter. Many protested and went to the Ogden City Council to demand something be done. UDOT conducted a traffic study and deemed that the area needed a crosswalk.
St. Anne's Center is due to relocate when a bigger facility is built later this year. When they move, Saunders said, UDOT will conduct another traffic study to determine if the crosswalk should stay in place.
