SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Nine months after the death of a mother who was struck by a car while picking up her child from Phoebe Hearst Elementary School, the City of Sacramento has secured funds for safety improvements on Folsom Boulevard.
Announcing the $5 million in state funds for the project, Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) said the safety improvements were especially important "to help prevent another tragedy from happening."
On Jan. 13, 2022, Lupe Jimenez Brown was struck and killed by a driver who ran a red light. The deadly crash happened on the intersection of 60th St and Folsom, where drivers often treat the four lane road like a freeway.
"Traffic’s just got to slow down. People are just in a hurry, they’re not thinking," said Michael Benjamin, Sr. who was picking up his granddaughter from the elementary school Tuesday.
McCarty said the project will include a lane reduction between 58th Street and 65th Street to calm traffic and reduce conflict points. It would also install bike lanes from 48th St and 53rd St, and include re-striping to reconfigure the roadway.
In a news release, the late Jimenez Brown's husband, Chris Brown, said the funding meant "so much to me, my family, and the Phoebe Hearst traffic safety committee."
Brown went on to say, "while there is nothing that will bring my wife Lupe back, implementing this road diet is a major step in preventing this type of tragedy from occurring again in the future and building a safer tomorrow for our community."
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