It's a Missouri highway some locals say is so dangerous, they call it "Blood Alley". Now, some are asking for changes to make the road safer. So they called NewsChannel 5 on Your Side for help about this risky roadway.
Forty miles per hour is how fast most drivers cruise through the scenic town of Hillsboro. So, why the ominous nickname “Blood Alley?”
“Because of all the wrecks that have happened here,” said Hillsboro resident Wayne Long.
Broken glass and car parts litter the shoulders of Highway 21, acting as evidence of those crashes.
“It is concerning when you come out to the edge of the street and there's nothing but broken glass from vehicles,” Long said.
Long believes part of the problem is that the speed limit jumps from 40 to 55 mph at the intersection of Highway 21 and Highway B.
“Some people drive over it, some people drive under it. There is a lot of traffic through here all day and all night.”
To make things worse, there's a blind hill on the road close to Long's neighborhood.
“You cannot see traffic coming at all until they are right up on top of you,” he said.
That's why Long wants one speed throughout the city: 40 miles an hour. And he's not alone. Breanna Willhelm is moving into a neighborhood south of Long's.
“Fifty-five mph is not a speed limit you should be going on a highway like this,” said Willhelm.
Five on Your Side checked with the Missouri Highway Patrol and learned since 2006 there have been 18 injury accidents along the two-mile stretch between the intersection of 21 and B and Willhelm’s neighborhood.
So what is the state doing about it?
“We are in the process of analyzing the crashes that have occurred in this area if any and what potential fixes we could do with that,” said MoDOT area engineer Judy Wagner.
MoDOT says the next phase is to look at the volume and speed of traffic in the area. That could take 60 days to complete. But Long wants to see action sooner.
“We could reduce the speed and all that is just basically go change the sign and that could be corrected tomorrow,” said Long.
But MoDOT says until the study is done there's no way to know if a speed limit change, or another solution, would reduce crashes. A speed limit change would also require a new law passed by Hillsboro city leaders.
Five on your side will update this story after MoDOT completes its study.
