Staying with the story
The Springfield News-Sun has reported on every step of the process the Mongold family took to get the sidewalk installed. You can count on us to keep you up to date on all the key issues related to public safety.
Three years after the death of her 12-year-old daughter, a Springfield mother is happy the city plans to put a sidewalk on North Murray Street.
Gloria Mongold has been working with the city to enhance pedestrian safety along the stretch of roadway between Water Street and Chestnut Avenue, where her daughter was struck and killed by a vehicle.
“Having a sidewalk here wouldn’t have stopped what happened to Kayla,” Mongold said. “But it just makes it a little safer for all the other kids that have to use this path to walk.”
Mongold’s daughter, Kayla Mongold, was struck and killed by a speeding SUV while she was walking in the grass along North Murray Street in July 2012. The driver of the SUV, Joseph Thomson, was fleeing from a police stop when he hit her. He’s currently serving an 11-year prison sentence in the case.
There are no sidewalks on either side of North Murray Street where Kayla Mongold was struck.
The timing of the news of the sidewalk was no coincidence, she said.
“Today (Tuesday) would have been her 16th birthday. So getting the news last week that they’re going to put in a sidewalk and they’re going to do something — it’s kind of like Kayla saying, ‘Okay they’re going to do it for me. They’re going to help,’ ” Gloria Mongold said.
The week after her daughter’s death, Gloria Mongold started the petition to erect a guardrail on North Murray Street where the roadway curves at Chestnut Avenue.
At Kayla Mongold’s funeral people could sign the petition and by July 2014, the family had more than 300 signatures when they presented their petition to city commissioners.
Certain requirements — such as the speed limit, slope of the area and curbs — restricted the city from installing a guardrail, City Engineer Leo Shanayda said. But the city applied for Ohio Department of Transportation funding to install the sidewalk, Shanayda added.
“We know there’s pedestrians that are out there in that area,” he said.
The city applied for and was awarded ODOT Transportation Alternatives money — which are funds set aside by the state office to pay for bicycle and pedestrian projects.
The sidewalk installation will cost roughly $88,000, Shanayda said. Of that, ODOT money will fund 80 percent of the project.
City commissioners approved an emergency action at Tuesday night’s meeting to dedicate 0.751 acres of city-owned property along North Murray Street as a right-of-way.
This step was necessary as part of the agreement with ODOT for the grant money, Shanayda said, to secure the funding.
Once the money is secured the city can begin coordinating the installation process with ODOT, which Shanayda said could take a year.
Construction of the new sidewalk is scheduled to be in the spring of 2017.
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