? UPDATE: The petition was successful in starting a dialogue with the City and creating a participatory process for calming the traffic along Robinson Street.
Stay up to date on the process here. ?
Neighbors have been concerned about the Robinson Street traffic since Happy Hollow and River Road projects were commenced several years ago and traffic was redirected to Robinson. There have been other accidents along the road, but none have been fatal in recent years.
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What You Can Do
The Neighbors are organizing around the issue and plan on bringing it the September 20th Traffic Commission meeting.
If you can attend the meeting on September 20th, 5pm, at City Hall, that would be appreciated.
? Email City Officials
Ahead of the meeting, neighbors have been encouraging people to communicate with members of the City who are involved traffic matters:
- Mayor Dennis
- Director of Development (and upcoming Mayor) Easter
- Public Works Director Anderson
- The City Councilors, including those who represent New Chauncey:
- City Councilors Bunder (2), Leverenz (4), Sanders (At-Large), Thomas (At-Large), Blanco (At-Large)
- The City Engineers office
- The Traffic Commission
Click here to prepopulate an email with everyone’s address and subject line.
You can also right click on the link and select Copy Email Address to copy everyone’s email address for you to paste into your favorite email program.
The address list consists of the Mayor, upcoming Mayor, Public Works Director, City Engineering, City Councilors, and the Traffic Commission.
? Sign the Petition for a Participatory Traffic Calming Process
We, the undersigned, demand to have a direct and participatory process created to address the traffic issues along Robinson Street in the New Chauncey Neighborhood of West Lafayette.
A fatal car accident occurred on August 25th, 2023 around 4:17pm involving a southbound car hitting a parked car and then hitting the driver’s side of a northbound semi-truck. This is the latest in a series of accidents, near-misses, and dangerous driving along Robinson Street.
Robinson shares characteristics with many other residential streets in New Chauncey. However, due to its wider, straight layout, it is also traveled by many who treat it as a highway with high speeds and dangerous maneuvers. The current conditions make it difficult to cross on foot, dangerous for cyclists to ride, and hazardous for drivers coming from side streets, pulling in and out of driveways, or parking along the road.
This was a problem even before the recent road construction projects on Happy Hollow and River Road over the last several years. The incidents, however, are more frequent due to them.
There are many solutions and interventions we can take as a community to reduce speeds and require greater awareness when traveling.
To achieve the goal of a safer Robinson Street, New Chauncey residents living on or around the street insist on direct participation throughout the process of reviewing, analyzing, recommending, and deciding on traffic calming measures.
? Background Information
2023-09-20 Traffic Commission Agenda and Documents
Traffic Analysis 2023-08-21 — 2023-09-15
Traffic Analysis 2023-08-31 — 2023-09-06
West Lafayette Police Department Press Release
August 25, 2023
On 8/25/2023 at approximately 4:17 PM the West Lafayette Police Department responded to a report of a crash between a semi and two other vehicles on Robinson St. near the intersection with Dehart St.
Upon arrival, officers discovered that the driver of one of the vehicles had apparently died as a result of injuries sustained in the crash. Investigators and a Crash Reconstruction Team from WLPD, as well as the Tippecanoe County Coroner’s Office, were immediately called to the scene to assist with the investigation.
According to a preliminary on-scene investigation, a southbound passenger car reportedly swerved for an unknown reason and struck a parked vehicle on Robinson St. The collision with the parked vehicle caused the southbound vehicle to renter the travel portion of the roadway into the path of a northbound semi. The semi then collided with the southbound car.
The driver of the vehicle, an adult woman, was pronounced deceased at the scene. The driver of the semi, an adult male, was not injured. He was transported to the hospital for a blood sample to be drawn as a standard protocol for crashes involving serious injury or death, but at this time alcohol and/or drugs do not appear to be a factor in the crash.
The identity of the deceased driver is being withheld pending notification of the next of kin. The circumstances leading up to the crash remain under investigation.
Anyone with information regarding this incident, especially those who may have been traveling in this area around the time of the crash, are asked to contact the West Lafayette Police Department at (765) 775-5200.
Captain Adam Ferguson
West Lafayette Police Department
Additional Media Coverage:
Purdue Exponent: 1 dead in 3-vehicle crash
Journal and Courier: Woman killed in a West Lafayette fatality at Robinson and Dehart streets
Related: Reducing speed limits, increasing safety on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus