INDIANAPOLIS — A dangerous intersection on Indianapolis' southwest side has a growing number of crashes and near-misses. It's the same spot where a dump truck and school bus collided earlier this week.
Neighbors in the area call it a "bad design," and a "dangerous intersection." The neighbors also say even though they've complained to the city, but nothing is being done.
At Mann Road and Southport Road, the intersection is more like a triangle.
"It's just so broke up. Different directions. Different angles. It's not like a four-way stop at all," Forest Kuntz, who lives near the intersection, said.
RTV6 first started looking into the intersection on Friday, when neighbors reached out to the newsroom to share concerns about drivers running the stop signs.
Then, just days after the first RTV6 report, a dump truck and a school bus with over 30 students on-board collided in the intersection.
The dump truck driver told police their brakes failed, but JoAnn witnessed the crash and said the truck was driving way too fast and didn't break until the last moment.
"I heard the truck coming; I could tell he was going fast. I've been out here enough, I know," JoAnn said. "When I heard the truck coming, I looked up, and I could see when he went by, and I thought, she's not going to make the stop sign, he's just not."
The intersection has seen several crashes over the years, and RTV6 asked the city for specific numbers, but they weren't readily available.
The city told RTV6 they installed stop signs at the intersection in 2017, neighbors say it has helped reduce crashes; however, it is not the solution.
Neighbors say the crashes still happen — so what's being done about it?
The Department of Public Works is in the process of designing a new intersection. The city says it will include a slight realignment of Southport Road to form a "T" intersection at Mann Road, with a designated turn lane and new traffic signal. Although, work on the project won't start until 2022.
The community says that's too long.
"Until they do, it's going to be accidents after accidents," one neighbor said.
The rebuilding of the intersection will be federally funded to complete the project.
