MACON, Ga. —
A pedestrian fatality has raised more concerns on if there’s enough crosswalks along Gray Highway.
So far this year, there’s been seven confirmed fatalities in Macon-Bibb County, according to coroner Leon Jones.
"There's so many wrecks around here in this area," Tangela Taylor said, pointing to Gray Highway.
Taylor started working as a cashier at Fincher's Barbecue eight years ago.
In her time there, she says she's seen dozens of accidents and at least three people die after being hit by cars.
Just Thursday night, employees here saw the accident involving 50-year-old Carol Denise Reese as she crossed at Gray Highway and Hall Street.
Taylor says solving the problem seems simple.
"There's not enough crosswalks for pedestrians to be walking around here," Taylor said.
Along Gray Highway, there's a total of three crosswalks: at the entrance of Walmart at Walnut Crossing Plaza, another at Shurling Drive, and the third at where Second Street merges into Gray Highway, which is 0.9 miles from the Shurling Drive crosswalk.
"That's not enough crosswalks. It's a lot of businesses up here, you know, and you don't want to walk all the way up there to cross the street and come all the way over here," Taylor said.
"That's one of the issues we know," Gregory Brown said.
Brown, chair of the Pedestrian Safety Review Board, says the committee started looking at ways to improve pedestrian safety along Gray Highway in 2016.
A county audit focused on lighting, spacing between crosswalks and the visibility of crosswalks.
Brown says a key issue is that Gray Highway is a state route.
"We have to collaborate with the county and the state to see any type of change happen along Gray Highway," Brown said.
Brown says they plan to host a summit in October to talk about the problems with local leaders, Georgia Department of Transportation, and the Federal Highway Administration.
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