One-mile stretch of road where 4-year-old girl died has seen 173 wrecks since 2009

There have been nearly 50 traffic wrecks on the 1,000-foot stretch of road where a 4-year-old girl died on Monday.

It’s a place where neighbors have, for years, called for safety improvements only to be turned down.

Data from the Missouri State Highway Patrol shows there had been at least 43 car crashes within the roughly one-fifth of a mile stretch of Northeast Parvin road between Russell and North Prather roads, since 2009. Six of those wrecks resulted in injuries.

Those numbers do not include Monday’s fatal crash when a vehicle carrying a 4-year-old girl spiraled off of the Parvin roadway and down a hill, ricocheting off multiple trees before crashing at the hill’s base and killing the girl.

Police said the girl was a passenger in an SUV that was eastbound when the driver passed a van on the left. The SUV sideswiped the van and the SUV driver lost control.

The SUV traveled off the road, struck several trees and overturned. The driver of the SUV, a 53-year-old Kansas City man, was taken to a hospital where he is listed in serious but stable condition, police said. The driver of the van was not injured.

Other highway patrol data shows that a longer stretch of Parvin Road, between Northeast Davidson and Northeast Antioch roads, has seen at least 173 accidents in the last decade.

Evelyn Childers, a resident of the Colonial Square Apartments located just off Parvin, says she had long complained to the city that the roadway was unsafe, calling it a “disaster waiting to happen.”

Public records obtained by The Star show that Childers and the apartment complex had petitioned Kansas City’s Public Infrastructure Advisory Committee (PIAC) at least four times since 2014 for funds to improve the road, asking for additional turning lanes and funds to remove shrubbery that might obstruct the view of drivers passing by.

Each of those petitions was rejected by the city.

“I feel so bad about it,” Childers says. “If only they had taken heed of what I was asking for and followed through with it. I don’t think that accident would have been as bad as it was.”

On Wednesday, the Star obtained an official response form to those PIAC requests, in which a city estimator found the roadway conditions near the complex to “exceed the minimum safe sight distance” as outlined by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

That assessment came with the rejection of the road improvement petitions.

Deb Hermann, a PIAC chairwoman and the CEO of the Northland Neighborhoods Inc. neighborhood association, which represents the Colonial Square apartments, said that despite the rejection of the petitions, the city is constantly having discussions about how to improve Parvin Road.

But an ever-growing list of infrastructure challenges, coupled with limited resources, makes addressing all problems a challenge.

Councilman Scott Wagner and Councilwoman Heather Hall, who represent the district where Parvin Road is located, were not immediately available for comment Wednesday afternoon.

The most feasible step, Herman said, is for the city to work with traffic engineers and PIAC to find a temporary fix that wouldn’t involve major construction.

“I know a long-term fix will probably be too expensive. But whatever we do, it needs to be a priority.”

The cause of Monday’s crash is under investigation. Police have not said if the child and the driver wore seat belts.