Community demands better road safety after 2 middle school girls hit in Chapel Hill

After two middle school girls were hit while crossing a crosswalk in Chapel Hill, neighbors are demanding that more needs to be done to keep bikers and pedestrians safe.

The community came together on Friday night to hold a demonstration, bringing awareness to the two girls who are still suffering from their injuries.

The group walked down the corridor of North Estes Road to remind people to slow down and pay attention to pedestrians.

"I cross that sidewalk four times a day with my kids, to take them to Estes Hills Elementary," said Anne Goldstien. "My daughter crosses [there to] go to Phillips Middle School. It’s heartbreaking."

Neighbors put up signs in the area that said, "Drive like your kids live here."

Residents have been pushing for a while to make the intersection more pedestrian friendly. The town created the Estes Drive Connectivity project over a decade ago, but so far no improvements have been made.

"The plans are really great," Goldstien said. "They look amazing. But the delays are not."

The project is slated to construct sidewalks, a crosswalk, intersection improvements and raised bike lanes. But it has been delayed until the spring.

Neighbors demanded that the city stop putting off safety measures and take basic steps like repaint the crosswalk and install reflectors.

"A weighted barrel where the damaged crosswalk sign is in the middle of the road. The sign gets hit regularly," Goldstien said. "Safety flags on either of our crosswalks on Estes to help pedestrians be more visible."