Tri-State Native Petitions For A Safer Lloyd Expressway
By: Casie Mason
Updated: February 16, 2013
Ryan Voegerl is spearheading that campaign after his family was in a major crash on the expressway. He lives miles away in Kansas, but putting up concrete barriers along the Lloyd Expressway here in Evansville Indiana has become a passion for Ryan Voegerl. Today I asked why does someone who lives in another state care about this stretch of road.
"It was always very dangerous," says Dubois County native Ryan Voegerl who spent many years driving along the Llyod Expressway. A few months ago his aunt was involved in an crash. "A driver from Newburgh had popped a tire and crossed over the sidewalk-type median close to the Interstate I-164 interchange. She hit my aunt head on. From that point on my aunt spent her time at St. Mary's and was in a coma for the full month of December," say Voegerl. He says witnessing fast paced traffic and wrecks gave him the idea, this road needs to be safer. "From day one when I heard about the accident I started reminiscing about all the different times I had spent on the Lloyd Expressway, remembering all the dangerous situations and people that we're involved. I recognized immediately, hey, what if I set up a petition to eventually change this and see if we can prevent future accidents from happening."
The online petition has 157 signatures right now, but when Eyewitness News hit the streets of Evansville to hear what people thought of the barrier idea, the reaction was positive."I've had a couple of encounters where people have been on the wrong side of the road on the Lloyd and that was really terrifying," says Rachel Mathew. "Yeah, it would offer a piece of mind thinking about only having a stripe of paint to protect you from the next person going sixty miles an hour beside you, you are like holy cow, they could sneeze and I would be pushed off this road," says Mackenzie Pool. The Department of Transportation says around 35 thousand vehicles drive in-between Burkhart road and Warrick County interchange every day. "If a single accident can be prevented by installing concrete median barriers, if a single life can be saved, or one more Christmas to be saved, I think everyone would benefit in Vanderburgh." INDOT tells me they review every request sent in and received Voegerl's petition a few days ago. It is now under investigational review. INDOT will plan a date to meet on the barrier request in a few weeks. The petition can be found at www.ipetitions.com
"It was always very dangerous," says Dubois County native Ryan Voegerl who spent many years driving along the Llyod Expressway. A few months ago his aunt was involved in an crash. "A driver from Newburgh had popped a tire and crossed over the sidewalk-type median close to the Interstate I-164 interchange. She hit my aunt head on. From that point on my aunt spent her time at St. Mary's and was in a coma for the full month of December," say Voegerl. He says witnessing fast paced traffic and wrecks gave him the idea, this road needs to be safer. "From day one when I heard about the accident I started reminiscing about all the different times I had spent on the Lloyd Expressway, remembering all the dangerous situations and people that we're involved. I recognized immediately, hey, what if I set up a petition to eventually change this and see if we can prevent future accidents from happening."
The online petition has 157 signatures right now, but when Eyewitness News hit the streets of Evansville to hear what people thought of the barrier idea, the reaction was positive."I've had a couple of encounters where people have been on the wrong side of the road on the Lloyd and that was really terrifying," says Rachel Mathew. "Yeah, it would offer a piece of mind thinking about only having a stripe of paint to protect you from the next person going sixty miles an hour beside you, you are like holy cow, they could sneeze and I would be pushed off this road," says Mackenzie Pool. The Department of Transportation says around 35 thousand vehicles drive in-between Burkhart road and Warrick County interchange every day. "If a single accident can be prevented by installing concrete median barriers, if a single life can be saved, or one more Christmas to be saved, I think everyone would benefit in Vanderburgh." INDOT tells me they review every request sent in and received Voegerl's petition a few days ago. It is now under investigational review. INDOT will plan a date to meet on the barrier request in a few weeks. The petition can be found at www.ipetitions.com
