A Toledo councilwoman is asking the city to look again at a west Toledo intersection after a teenager was hit on Eleanor Avenue. Councilwoman Theresa Morris wants the city to consider bringing back a traffic light that used to stand at Commonwealth and Eleanor, 13abc reported.
The call, reported by 13abc, centers on an intersection where drivers, pedestrians and neighborhood traffic meet on Eleanor Avenue — and where, Morris argues, a signal that once controlled the crossing could again slow traffic and give people on foot a protected way across.
The teenager’s being hit is the latest reminder, for residents along the corridor, that Eleanor Avenue carries both neighborhood traffic and through traffic, and that a single crossing can shape whether families feel safe walking in their own neighborhood. 13abc reported Morris’s push as a call for traffic safety upgrades following the crash.
Morris represents the neighborhood’s voice in the discussion: council members who hear from residents after a crash often become the channel through which a street-level concern reaches the city’s traffic engineers. Her proposal, as 13abc reported it, is specific — restore a signal that previously stood at the intersection — rather than a general call for slower traffic, which gives the city’s review a concrete question to answer.
Toledo has a broader safety framework to weigh the request against: the city has committed itself to Vision Zero, a strategy aimed at eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries while improving safe mobility for everyone, according to the City of Toledo. City staff who manage traffic will have to assess whether a restored signal at Commonwealth meets the warrants and standards that govern new signals.
A restored light is not the only tool the city can consider at the intersection — visibility, signage, speed and crossing design all factor into how an intersection review comes out — but Morris’s request puts the specific, concrete option she favors on the public record, 13abc reported.
What happens next: the city’s traffic staff and council will weigh Morris’s request for the Commonwealth and Eleanor signal, and residents of the surrounding neighborhood will be watching whether the review produces a restored light, other upgrades, or a finding that the intersection does not meet signal standards.
Photo: Mbrickn, CC BY