Is busy Steptoe intersection becoming a problem? Crash is eighth one this year

Police are keeping an eye on a busy Kennewick intersection after the latest in a series of crashes snarled traffic Wednesday morning.

The latest crash is more of an emerging pattern than a fluke, according to police. A man was driving a Ford 150 pickup east on Clearwater Avenue around 8:30 a.m. when he stopped at a blinking yellow turn signal at the Steptoe Street intersection.

After stopping to see if there was any oncoming traffic, the driver proceeded to turn left, Sgt. Matt Newton said. What the driver of the truck didn’t notice until it was too late was a Chevy Suburban heading toward the intersection. The Suburban, driven by a woman with three children as passengers, collided with the pickup, sending the truck rolling onto its side.

The crash closed Steptoe all the way to Center Parkway for about an hour.

While no one was hurt, it is the fourth time nearly the same events have occurred at that intersection in the past four months and the eighth crash there this year, Newton said.

Intersections usually start becoming a concern once they exceed 10 crashes in a year, said Newton. If the pattern continues, Steptoe and Clearwater will make that list.

Many of the people who raise concerns about the intersection point to an incline leading up to it, but right now it seems like it may have more to do with people either racing to get through the light or not noticing traffic on Steptoe, Newton said.

Of this year’s accidents at the intersection, four involved drivers who failed to notice or tried to rush past traffic, two were caused by people driving too fast during snowy conditions, and two involved people running red lights or other issues.

Police meet regularly with city engineers to discuss problem intersections to determine whether structural changes or education would be more likely to fix problems.

This story was originally published May 8, 2019 at 2:03 PM with the headline "Is busy Steptoe intersection becoming a problem? Crash is eighth one this year."