CRESTVIEW—A commute on Raptor Drive can take one past several suburban homes or leave somebody stuck in a five-foot hole.
A storm drain under construction on the street was left open for several days and marked off with a single piece of construction zone tape and four orange signs—two of which laid on the pavement. No cover was placed over the hole which dropped several feet into the ground and had no accessible escape route if somebody had fallen in.
Cris Basilio lives a few houses away from the opened drained and posted his concern to the News Bulletin’s Facebook page April 17 that “a child could easily fall” into the hall and become injured.
The removed portion of pavement surrounding the hole cut into the road lane and presented a threat to traffic on the residential street.
The road was repaired during the afternoon of April 19, but the hole was left open. Barriers that were once partially around the hole were moved into an adjacent yard—leaving no indication of the drop off to passing motorists or pedestrians.
“If two cars were on the corner going opposite ways, no doubt one would run right over this if they didn't see it,” Nettie Predieri, who lives on the street, said.
The drain is located at a curve in the road, meaning it’s partially blinded to some motorists depending on their travel direction.
The storm drain was covered and completed by the end of day April 19. On April 20, the tape and signs were still in place to caution drivers of the potentially wet cement which had been laid the day before.
Although fixed, the hole was open for several days and presented risks to motorists, cyclists and pedestrians traversing the road. Thirty-six homes are located on Raptor Drive, which borders other roads containing several dozen more houses in the Alicia Place subdivision.
A call to Public Services Director Wayne Steele for comment was not answered.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Construction project puts children at risk