TONGANOXIE, Kan. – 53 year-old Ronda Andrews was running a quick errand on Friday, when she was killed at a highway intersection in Basehor, Kan. People who drive near that intersection say they’ve seen countless wrecks at that exact spot. That’s why they say they’re relieved KDOT’s installing a stop light in a couple of weeks, something many have asked for years.
With cars zooming past, some pause for a moment at the white wooden cross on the side of U.S. 24/40 at 158th Street, signing the symbol in memory of Ronda Andrews, a woman who died here Friday.
“She left to go get a haircut, and she told the staff she would be back,” said Genesis School Administrator, Sharon Beeman.
Ronda, a second grade teacher at Genesis School in Tonganoxie, a wife, a mother of six, and a grandmother of eight, didn’t come back.
“She was well-loved in this community, by this church, and in this school,” Beeman said.
A funeral with a massive crowd expected is being prepared for Ronda Andrews, a woman known for her generosity.
“She gave every bit of herself for everyone else,” Beeman explained.
Five years ago, another school staff member lost her teenaged daughter at the same intersection in a similar crash.
“It has stirred up a lot of emotions for a lot of us around here,” Beeman said.
A study by KDOT shows between January 2006 to August 2010 there were two fatal crashes and four injury crashes at the intersection of U.S. 24/40 and 158th Street.
Michelle Meyer, owner of Holy-Field Vineyard and Winery, sees many of them.
We’ve seen our share of accidents on this corner, that’s for sure,” Meyer explained.
She tries to not even use the intersection.
“I go up to Parallel Parkway and go back East and go out on 155th at the light,” Meyer said.
In less than two weeks, though, the process of installing a long-awaited stoplight begins. Rather than being bitter it didn’t come sooner, Ronda’s friends and family focus on the positive.
“Being grateful and thankful that in the future, maybe less families will have to deal with this,” Beeman said.
Ronda Andrews’s funeral will be Wednesday morning at the Genesis School gym in Tonganoxie at 10:00 a.m. Construction to install the stoplight and add left turn lanes at the intersection of U.S. 24/40 and 158th Street will begin Monday, August 27.
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