City Had Received Numerous Complaints about Marion Intersection Where Motorcycle Fatality Occurred

Marion City Engineer Dan Whitlow said the city has received numerous complaints about the intersection of Highway 13 and Hennessey Parkway.

That intersection is where Marion resident from a last Saturday. Police are .

"I think people are pulling out of a residential area and pulling into traffic going 50 miles-an-hour, (and it) is intimidating," Whitlow said.

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Whitlow said a traffic light was put at the corner of Highway 151 and Highway 13 six or seven years ago, one block away from where the accident happened. At the time, the Marion City Council asked the Iowa Department of Transportation to lower the speed limit from 55 to 45 miles-per-hour.

The Iowa DOT responded lowering the speed limit to 50 miles-per-hour.

Whitlow added that the Iowa DOT is now studying the intersection to see if adjustments should be made, but it might take as long as six months before it is finished.

Even though the City of Marion asked for the speed limit to be lowered, he said they didn't find that the intersection had a large amount of accidents.

 Lt. Doug Slagle said that despite a pedestrian that was killed while crossing the street, he does not feel that there have been a disproportionate amount of crashes.

Still, the speed of the traffic ensures that whenever an accident does occur, it is usually pretty serious.

Given all this, what do you think should be done with the intersection?