Safer bus shelter planned at site of deadly crash

By Conor Shine

Tuesday, May 13, 2014 | 12:01 p.m.

The Regional Transportation Commission announced today it plans to install a new bus shelter along Spring Mountain Road where a vehicle crashed into a bus stop, killing four people nearly two years ago.

The new shelter will be 10 feet from the street, behind the sidewalk and a rock barrier. That’s a marked improvement from the shelter destroyed in the September 2012 crash, which was located on the five-foot-wide sidewalk next to the busy street.

The new shelter was made possible by an easement given to the RTC by the Dylan Investment Group. The company owns a shopping center at 4815 Spring Mountain Road where the bus stop is located.

The easement allows the RTC to move the shelter back into the shopping center’s parking lot, said Carl Scarbrough, manager of transit amenities.

RTC officials didn’t feel comfortable installing another bus shelter in the same spot on the sidewalk after the crash, he said. The stop sees about 200 riders a day.

“I’ve gotten a number of calls from riders asking me to reinstall a shelter,” Scarbrough said. “It’s going to make their trip a lot more pleasant. For some people, if they don’t have a place to sit down or get out of the sun, they really can’t ride, especially in the summer.”

The new shelter will include two shade structures with benches and ramp compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. It will cost about $45,000 to install and is expected to be finished in June.

The RTC is spending $2.3 million to install or move 150 bus shelters across the valley. The shelters will be at least five feet from the road. Currently, 765 of the agency’s 3,156 transit stops have shelters or benches behind sidewalks.

The driver in the Sept. 13, 2012, crash, Gary Lee Hosey Jr., was sentenced to 24 to 80 years in prison in November after pleading guilty to five counts of driving under the influence causing death or substantial physical harm.