NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - A dangerous stretch of roadway in Newport News has neighbors on edge.
They said more needs to be done to protect homeowners and businesses along Warwick Blvd. in Historic Hilton Village after multiple vehicles have smashed into buildings.
"The speeding is just crazy through here," said resident Meagan Adams. "It's always been like this."
Over the years in Historic Hilton Village, motorcycles have sideswiped sidewalks, cars have crashed into homes, and vehicles have flipped upside down onto trees. Some accidents have been the cause of medical emergencies, but neighbors believe many incidents have been because of speeding.
Residents like Adams are fed up.
"We do have a violent, tragic accident like monthly, it seems like - lately, anyway. I would not be surprised if those people [who live there] don't have PTSD," said Adams.
George Covington, who owns Couture Cakes, can attest to that. From inside his business, he said he has heard all sorts of traffic commotion.
"It's like a whipping noise because they're actually sideswiping the curb, and you can see the curb where a lot of the curb has been broken off because of the cars and the hubcaps that are hitting," he said.
While News 3 was reporting in the neighborhood Thursday afternoon, we even saw a crash down the road. A car smashed into a tree on someone's front yard along Warwick.
It's these "too-close-to-home" happenings that have folks in the area taking action and demanding change.
Adams said, "Right now, the 25 mph zone is between Raleigh and Milford, and I think if we add a couple more blocks to that people will be slowing down before they really need to slow down."
These ideas have been taken to city council. Councilman David Jenkins said, "I think that it's very important that we do whatever we can on a permanent basis to stop that from happening."
One proposal on the table is to add barriers along the sidewalk.
"We're going to use planters. We want to make sure that they are strong enough to protect homes and businesses in town here and that they're the right size so people can still get out of their cars and move around them," he said. "We don't want to do just plain ugly barriers - we want to incorporate them into the landscaping of the Hilton Village area."
There's no timeline yet on when this will happen, but Jenkins said public safety is a top priority. He said depending on expense, funds can be taken from other projects to accommodate.
Related: Virginia Beach will soon work to take the 'elbow' out of Elbow Road
While it is a step forward, Covington said he would like to see a stronger police presence. He said when the police are patrolling, it makes a difference.
"Slow down - it's not that important," he said. "I don't want to get hit. I want to go home at the end of the day."
