CINCINNATI — After the first speeding car crashed into her apartment building, Sarah Thomas was shocked. Now, after a fourth significant crash in three years, she's frustrated.
"Not again, ya know?" she told WCPO Monday. "It's always some panic, some frustration and then really I would say the anger sets in."
A car heading south on Virginia Avenue around 3 a.m. Sunday sped through the Chase Avenue intersection and careened into the corner of Thomas' property, a 7-unit affordable housing building still under construction. The entrance way is now caved in.
"Imagine the speed you'd have to be going to make that type of impact to hit an entire concrete-filled cast iron column and take that whole corner out," Thomas said. "Our largest concern right now is that a few months from now when we're done with construction and we've yet again spent tens of thousands of dollars fixing this, this is somebody's living room. What happens when somebody crashes in when somebody's living there?"
The three-story structure has suffered cosmetic damage in the past, left behind by drunk or speeding drivers, Thomas said. While Sunday's crash will ultimately be the costliest to recover from, it's not the most intense.
In 2021, a car crashed into her first rental property, which sits adjacent to the up-and-coming one. Police told her the driver was estimated to be driving between 75 and 80 mph, Thomas said.
"Almost triple the speed limit, lost control on (the Virginia Avenue curve), went through the lawn of our neighbor building here, hit both telephone poles on either side of the road and when the transformer landed on his car it burst into flames right up against our building," she said. "We were actually the first to come out here and start extinguishing the flames, then emergency services arrived, the fire department got him out of the car."
Just a few months after the fiery crash, another car crashed into the other end of the same building, taking out a section of fencing, breaking a glass window block and damaging the exterior stone foundation, Thomas said.
"We don't see a lot of traffic enforcement in Northside. We have seen very little response from the City of Cincinnati to these issues. "It's obvious that the speeding just continues to be out of control. It's unacceptable for this continue to happen at such an often occurrence."
Northside is the ninth-worst neighborhood for single-vehicle crashes, according to city data. There's been 485 crashes in the past three years, 29 of which happened on Virginia Avenue. Sunday's crash is not yet reflected in the data.
Cincinnati's Department of Transportation and Engineering Vision Zero Safety Map also shows several reports of speeding concerns along the roadway.
The Devou Good Foundation recently conducted a weeks-long speed survey at the intersection of Virginia and Bruce. The data showed around 70% of drivers exceeded the 30 mph speed limit while around 25% of drivers sped at 50 mph or above. The top speed recorded was 84 mph.
Thomas said she and other neighbors have voiced concern to the Northside Community Council about speeding along Virginia Avenue. Since 2020, the neighborhood has submitted 24 complaints or requests to DOTE.
"We've repeatedly been told that we don't qualify high enough for speed cushions here. It's not a high enough priority. I've gotten emails from (DOTE) saying their goal is to keep cars on the road, which is also my goal. I would love for the cars to stay on the road and out of our buildings, out of people's apartments," Thomas said.
Speed cushions would be her top pick, Thomas said, though she and other area property owners did request the city install guardrails at the Virginia Avenue curve. While that request went unfulfilled, enhanced arrow speed signage was installed in May 2023.
One of those signs has since been run over and now lies in the dirt.
"We need to physically make it harder to drive that fast on this road and our requests continue to be denied or unanswered," Thomas said.
There have been seven Vision Zero traffic calming projects completed in Northside. DOTE has a list of pedestrian safety community priority requests — the stretch of Virginia Avenue between Kirby and Bruce is the only Northside project listed, though it has yet to secure funding.
