What is Rancho Cordova doing to improve safety on road with history of crashes?
RANCHO CORDOVA — A Rancho Cordova street with a tragic history of car crashes is getting new scrutiny after another collision earlier this week.
Daniel Stiner said that he's concerned for his family's safety after the latest crash on Coloma Road—right in front of his home—on Tuesday.
"I heard a crash, looked out the window and two cars were crunched up here at the corner," Stiner said while showing us the scene.
The impact sent the cars flying up onto his front lawn where they were stopped by a set of boulders. There's a tragic reason the rocks are there.
In January 2020, a grandmother was killed and two other people were injured when a car slammed into the same home. The City of Rancho Cordova laid down 700-pound boulders following that collision, but less than ten months later, another car crashed there and overturned.
It's also the same stretch of Coloma Road where Rancho Cordova Police Officer Larry Canfield was killed on his motorcycle while trying to chase a speeding vehicle in 2008.
Neighbors say cars are constantly driving too fast.
"The speed limit is completely ignored," resident Pamela Martin said. "People treat this like it's a freeway."
So we took their concerns to city hall asking what Rancho Cordova is doing to improve traffic safety on Coloma Road.
"We've actually invested millions of dollars into improving Coloma Road with improvements that include high visibility crosswalks, brand new signals, new signage that's gone in," said Albert Stricker, the city's public works director.
The city is also considering a "road diet" which would reduce Coloma from two lanes to just one lane in each direction.
"Narrowing roads has been found to reduce speeds," Stricker said.
However, even with more traffic safety measures, Stiner still worries there will be another crash.
"I just want safety. That's all," Stiner said.
The city said that about 18,000 cars travel on Coloma Road daily, and they're waiting for an engineering study to be completed before reducing the lanes.
