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PROVO — A dramatic scene this weekend on a Provo street after a truck crashes through a yard.
The incident happened Sunday morning on a street that neighbors say is dangerous.
The street at 2200 North near 500 East is a three-lane road and the speed limit is 35 miles per hour. But neighbors say an increase in traffic and lack of safety measures created hazardous conditions.
Sunday morning, the Larsen family heard a boom outside. At first, Jeff Larsen thought it was gunfire.
An eastbound truck, with a driver who allegedly fell asleep at the wheel, crossed into his yard, hit the fire hydrant and then stopped dangerously close to his house.
"If it had continued right into our house, it could have hit the front window here where our daughter was reading her book on her bed," Larsen said.
The Larsens are relieved nobody was hurt, but neighbors are frustrated.
They say the city of Provo has ignored their pleas to get traffic slowing measures in place. They say cars speed up and down this street and many of them have had mailboxes knocked over, some numerous times.
To make matters worse, the city has a "master plan" in place to widen 2200 North to five lanes. Tonya Nicosia lives across the street from the Larsens. She says the danger will not stop at the mailboxes.
"It's not just mailboxes," Nicosia said. "People are going to die."
Gordon Haight is the public works director for the city of Provo. He says this issue isn't just on 2200 North.
"This is being played out all over the county," Haight said. It's a classic case of growing pains.
He confirms what neighbors say; a master plan is in place to widen this street to create five lanes of traffic. That's probably a decade out. But there are no plans under consideration to slow traffic on 2200 North or to stop plans to widen the road.
"I think it's important for a city to plan these things out and think these things through," Haight said.
Meanwhile, those living on 2200 North say more lanes of traffic is the opposite of what they want to see down the road.
"We purposely don't have our children play out in our front yard very often because of how busy the road is," Larsen said.
Haight says city leaders do want to hear the concerns of those living along this street, but he says this is all part of much bigger plans for Utah County to account for growth.
