LENEXA, Kan. — Some older people in Lenexa are crossing busy Pflumm Road, outside their senior complex, with extra care.
For years, 84-year-old Nancy Duhnke and several of her neighbors have worried about their safety when they walk out of their complex at Rosewood Place Senior Apartments near 85th and Pflumm Road.
“I think something needs to be done,” Duhnke said. “We need a crosswalk, a traffic light, something to help get us across the street to the Hyvee safely. … When I make it across the street and get inside the grocery story, I make sure I have somebody to escort me out and watch me get back home.”
A lot of the seniors at the complex walk with canes, walkers or they use wheelchairs to get around. They say since there’s no crosswalk, flashing lights or stop signs at their entrance, crossing Pflumm Road to the shopping center can be dangerous.
“It’s very dangerous. The cars come right at you, up the hill and the speeding drivers cannot see you,” says a frustrated Beverly West.
“Someone’s gonna get killed and then the city will say oh yeah we should’ve had something done there,” added West.
City officials say right now putting a crosswalk or anything else outside the complex is not in the city’s future plans.
Lenexa’s Transportation Manager’s best advice for seniors concerned about their safety is to walk about two blocks away, down the street to the nearest traffic way at 87th Street Parkway and Plumm Road.
Meantime, concerned citizen Melanie O’Donahue, who says she’s contacted the city about the seniors’ safety concerns, said she won’t stop fighting until something is done.
“If they can just put something there, that would solve the problem,” says O’Donahue. “It’s my duty to help these people because some day I’ll be elderly and I would hope somebody would stick up for me.”
