PHOENIX — Drivers were caught on camera speeding down a stretch of road where a local judge was hit just this week.
Maricopa Superior Court Judge Rosa Mroz is in the hospital after she was hit by a driver crossing 56th Street and Camelback Road this week. Those who live along the busy stretch of the road tell us it’s unsafe.
Tristahn Schaub, with the Arcadia Camelback Mountain Neighborhood Association, says, “it was one of these moments where it wasn't an ‘if' this was going to happen, it was ‘when’ it was going to happen.”
For five years the 'SAVES and Connects 56th Street' group has been pushing for change. When they heard a red-light runner hit a Maricopa Superior Court judge Wednesday along 56th Street, it unfortunately didn’t come as a surprise.
“The volume of traffic on 56th Street here in between Indian School and Camelback has continued to grow over the years, and we’ve raised these concerns,” says Schaub.
For years, neighbors have dealt with the headaches of 56th Street, sharing a video from 2018 with ABC15. It shows a car barreling through the roundabout off 56th and Exeter, hitting a light pole. Judge Mroz was hit by a vehicle just a block away.
Bailey Ogrin lives off 56th Street he says he has personally had to call 911 five times since July of 2021 for motor vehicle accidents.
Ogrin lives feet away from the roundabout and is grateful more attention is being drawn to the dangers of the street.
“That’s what got a lot of us in motion to make sure that you know we got you out here to make sure something at least it’s known,” says Ogrin.
While we were out on this story, a car drove inches from our photographer’s camera on the sidewalk.
Now, the neighborhood group is working to get funding through ‘MAG’ known as the Maricopa Association of Governments.
Schaub says, the next question becomes when can we get this paid for? He says through Department of Transportation funds and the city budget.
The City of Phoenix’s '56th Street Corridor' Project Manager tells me there are three stages, which will be completed in two phases. After five years of planning, design is set to begin in May 2022.
Improvements include six-foot bike lanes in both directions, a multi-use path, and fully completed sidewalks on the west side. The construction will begin in mid to late 2024.
We reached out to Phoenix police for an update on the driver involved in yesterday’s collision.
They tell us there are no updates.
