St. Paul residents demand safer streets near growing Highland Bridge

St. Paul residents are raising alarm about traffic safety as hundreds of new residents have moved into new apartments, town houses and senior living developments at Highland Bridge , the growing community on the site of the former Ford plant . Last month, a 69-year-old woman was killed crossing Cleveland Avenue at Ford Parkway in the bustling neighborhood . The death horrified neighbors, who spoke at a Tuesday meeting of the Highland District Council about their own close calls at that intersection and pushing for the city to install more traffic safety measures because of how many people are moving in, and how many cars are going through the area. “I am constantly looking over my shoulder,” resident Tyler Strunk said. “We need to reduce cars through here,” especially as the neighborhood grows. A decade ago, when Highland Bridge was just a vague plan for what to do with 122 acres of land after the Ford plant’s closure, the possibility of more traffic was at the center of the debate about how to move forward. Advertisement Now, the area is seeing more traffic. New residents drive in and out of the neighborhood, and many also walk to do their shopping at the nearby Lunds and Target stores, or walk to the restaurants at Ford and Cleveland. People also drive into the neighborhood for the off-leash dog park in Highland Bridge, or take Cleveland to access highways to the airport. On Oct. 29, a turning dump truck hit Karen McElveen as she crossed the street around 8 a.m., and she was pronounced dead at the scene. Describing the crash to neighbors, Randy Newton, a city traffic engineer, said St. Paul has seen too many deadly crashes this year. “This is unfortunately not an isolated event,” Newton said.