Lexington neighborhood wants traffic light installed

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — A Lexington neighborhood association has had enough after another serious crash happened right outside the subdivision’s entrance.

The Woodfield Homeowners Association says the solution is simple; they want a stoplight installed at Tates Creek Road and Forest Lake Drive.

“Somebody’s gonna get killed before we get a stoplight here,” says HOA president Ray Depa.

Lexington Police say there have been five accidents at the intersection since January of last year. People were hurt in four of those.

“We have begged the state highway department for a stoplight and twice they’ve rejected us saying there’s not enough traffic to warrant one,” says Depa.

In Sunday’s crash, police say a car flipped trapping the driver and injuring four, including two kids under the age ten.

“It was family members coming to visit the kids and had that accident,” says Robert Simmons, who lives in the neighborhood.

The no-stoplight issue is personal for Simmons whose family members were in the car that flipped Sunday.

“They are still in the UK Hospital. Our nephew had a skull fracture so for a child that’s a very serious injury,” says Simmons.

He says they’re supposed to be okay, but asks how many more wrecks before action is taken?

“Let’s not have to have a funeral before a politician decides it’s important to protect the safety of the families of our neighbors,” says Simmons.

Simmons says he won’t allow his teenage drivers to use the Tates Creek intersection to get out of the neighborhood.

“I mean obviously it’s a very dangerous spot,” he says.

Depa, says the issue is speed, even with a 55 mile-per-hour limit.

“Cars are speeding down Tates Creek. They’re not going 55. They’re going 65-70 miles an hour in both directions and people get impatient trying to get out of this neighborhood,” says Depa.

We reached out to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. It says it’s not necessarily the number of accidents in an area that warrants a traffic light.

When asked why specifically this intersection doesn’t need one, when there are signals at other subdivision entrances near Woodfield, we were told the state is compiling information from an evaluation and will let us know soon.

“I don’t know how many more of these we have to have,” says Depa.