PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — WPTV looking into safety concerns at an intersection in Port St. Lucie.
Shar’Ronnie Ervin spoke to WPTV’s Tyler Hatfield at at our Let’s Hear It event in Tradition to sound the alarm about getting in and out the Oak Hammock neighborhood where she’s lived for 20 years.
WATCH: Resident shares concerns about intersection in Port St. Lucie
“I feel like I’m taking a risk of my life, and my child's life, every time I go out in the morning,” said Ervin.
Ervin said the problem spot is Crosstown Parkway and Congo Street. It’s where Ervin said she got in a crash in 2016, and where Port St. Lucie police said there have been 20 crashes since 2022.
“I just fear getting into another car accident,” said Ervin. “My family goes out every morning. I go out, pretty much, any time of the day.”
Ervin said driving out of the neighborhood is a headache. If a driver wants to make a left onto Crosstown Parkway heading west, they would have to cross three lanes of heavy traffic to make it to the median.
Ervin said there’s been countless time where drivers seemed trapped and must wait even longer in the median to make the turn.
“There will be three cars sitting in the median trying to make their way across,” said Ervin. “That's very dangerous.”
Ervin said a traffic light could be a solution, something other neighborhoods along Crosstown Parkway already have.
“We have the most traffic,” said Ervin. “And we don’t have a light.”
Ervin said she reached out to Port St. Lucie in 2023 but she’s disappointed there have been no changes.
WPTV eached out to the city, and a spokesperson wrote in a statement:
“Public Works is evaluating the area of Crosstown and Congo Street and we are working to determine the necessary improvements and will schedule them as funding becomes available as part of our capital improvements and mobility master plans. “
The city also pointed to way residents can make requests for a stop light. They said people can make a request to 1PSL, either through the app, on their website at CityofPSL.com/1PSL or by calling 772.871.1775.
Once the request is received, the city said the traffic operations team would review and evaluate the request.
To move forward, a traffic feasibility study would need to occur, which would look at a variety of factors including the amount of traffic, the number of accidents at the intersection, proximity to other traffic signals and other metrics.
