SPANISH FORK, Utah — Payton Loreen lives right around the corner from where two young girls were hit by a car while crossing Canyon Road Saturday.
“On Mother's Day, my wife and I took our kids and we were going to walk over to the Walmart just to grab some stuff, and we decided to walk, which we've never done,” he said. “And it was the scariest experience of our lives because you have cars going 45 plus miles an hour in the area, and on top of that, there's no crosswalks there.”
READ: Two Spanish Fork girls hit by car still in critical condition
For the last two years, community members have urged the city to put in a light, or at least a crosswalk, said Loreen.
“I've always wondered why this road opened up without crosswalks available because people cross all the time,” he said. “It's been very busy. There's accidents all the time.”
The signal was warranted, or approved, in 2022, and Spanish Fork had to work with UDOT through a permitting process, said Nick Porter, Public Information Officer.
“A lot of the signal warrants are post-performance,” he said. “We get the car count up, and I don't believe UDOT was going to put a crosswalk in without the signal, and so you have to have that warrant happen first.”
The city got approval in April to start construction in May, said Porter.
“We’ve since last night, put up to speed trailers going both east and westbound on Canyon Road,” he said. “The construction crew is actually mobilizing today as well to get some of their signage up and encourage pedestrians to use a safer crossing.”
But residents like Loreen feel like it’s too late, and they don’t understand why the city couldn’t have pushed the safety measures forward two years ago.
“Something bad happens and then we decide to put in this change,” he said. “Where's the concern trying to be proactive about this, trying to avoid? Because we can't stop all accidents. We get that. But where is the effort in trying to make us safer? Where in Spanish fork it feels like ‘Let's grow, let's grow, let's grow.’ None of the infrastructure supports that.”
As for how the two young girls are recovering, Reagan, 13, is still in critical condition as of Wednesday. Olivia, 12, is stable and in critical condition as of her family’s last update Monday.
