07-05-2025
Hartford looking to make street in front of McDonough Middle School safer
HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Major changes are coming to McDonough Middle School on Hillside Avenue in Hartford after two students were hit by cars while crossing the street in the past month.
Traffic monitor Lisa Arce said traffic on Hillside Avenue is fast and furious, and she has had a couple of close calls. She gets off the bus to monitor traffic before the students step into the street and is often worried about her own safety as well as drivers can reach speeds of 60 miles per hour.
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'We worry a lot and I go in the middle and if they hit me, they hit me,' Arce said. 'But I'm protecting the little kids too.'
Some students watched their friend get hit by a car on April 1 in front of McDonough. Since then, another student has also been hit in nearly the exact same spot. One student suffered broken legs and bruises on her face.
'The girl was running across the street, the person came out of nowhere going really fast, and hit her,' a student said.
Despite the fact that the school has been around for 150 years, the street in front of it has never been designated as a school zone. So students, parents and teachers are taking the problem to City Hall, and the mayor is listening.
'We are putting all of our resources in terms of traffic, calming into that corridor right now to deal with the emergency of that issue,' Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam (D) said.
Mayor Arulampalam has been working with Department of Public Works to get the area designated as a school zone. But in the short term, they are planning to re-strip and narrow the road using diagonal parking slow traffic.
'This shows you out in front of McDonough school what people will be seeing in the short term that will help slow these cars down in the short term in front of the schools,' Arulampalam said.
Mayor Arulampalam said they also plan on putting pipes right on this turn line, to keep cars out in the intersection as they make the turns. All of these improvements are supposed to start there this week or the beginning of next.
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