A busy intersection coupled with impatient drivers has some residents in Lakeland concerned.
- Busy intersection in Lakeland
- Sports fields has high population of children at and near intersection
- Residents say another light, stop sign needed
- Bay News 9's Real Time Traffic Reporter Chuck Henson takes an in-depth look at transportation issues around the Bay area
Especially, some residents said, because there are plenty of children in the neighborhood.
In fact, it's not unusual to see children playing or walking near the intersection of Park Byrd Road and Duff Road. There's baseball, football and soccer fields at the intersection, along with basketball courts.
"Kids having to dart across between cars," said nearby resident Richard Nalbach. "It's really a bad situation with all of the fields there."
The major problem is that, right now, only traffic on Park Byrd Road needs to stop. Nalbach said he would like to see additional traffic on Duff also slowed down.
"Like a three-way stop," he said. "They used to have that at Green (Road, which is down the street) and Duff. And they put a light up there and that worked fine there, and this is a much busier intersection than that one was."
Nalbach knows the roadway dangers firsthand.
"I was, myself was involved in an accident there," he said. "And the person that hit me went into the ditch, because there's a ditch right off the road and they turned, they flipped right over. So it's really a dangerous intersection - getting in and out of there."
The intersection is controlled by the county, which is analyzing the area and formulating a plan to review the traffic patterns.