The Ole Seagull, recently received an email from a lady who said, “Branson for decades has ignored the huge pedestrian problem its popularity has created. Shame on you, Branson.” What had so riled this lady that she would cast shame upon Branson? The tragic and needless death of her grandfather and serious injury to her grandmother which occurred Apr. 27, 2004, as they attempted to cross Branson’s “76 Country Music Boulevard,” in the middle of the famous Branson “Strip.”
The writer said that as her grandparents attempted to cross the street, a 22-year-old uninsured motorist drove into the center turn lane, passed a stopped car which was letting pedestrians cross the street in front of the Presley Show, and stuck both of her grandparents. She went on to point out that, as a result of being struck, her grandfather incurred a back broken in three places, broken, knees, legs, and feet, had a massive heart-attack at the scene, had internal bleeding, and “suffered for 16 days in neuro-trauma ICU in Springfield” before he died.
Then she said something that just jumped off the page, “It is an outrage that the City of
As he “drove” west on Branson’s famed strip, from its junction with Highway 65 to its junction with the Shepherd of the Hills Expressway the Ole Seagull could not find one marked pedestrian crossing. The question that came immediately to his mind was, “How are pedestrians supposed to get across highway 76 safely?
Going to the nearest stop light and crossing is not really a viable choice because there is about a 2.5 mile distance between the stop light at the junction of Highway 76 and Roark Creek and the light at the junction of Highway 165 and Highway 76. As has been previously discussed going to the nearest pedestrian cross walk is not a viable choice because there are none.
The only other choice is to use ones own devices to safely get across the street. Easier said than done on most days, especially when the average age of the typical Branson visitor and the volume of traffic on Highway 76 during the season is factored in. A normal progression would be to wait for a traffic break to get from the curb to the center turn lane and then, wait for another break in the traffic to try to get from the center turn lane to the other side.
“Come on Seagull; from a safety point of view that’s a “crap shoot” and you know it.
“Of course it is but it does describe the reality of the current situation.”
To an Ole Seagull it seems ludicrous that as a community we are spending hundreds of millions of dollars in building new developments and advertising to bring more visitors to Branson when we can’t even get the ones we have from one side of the road to the other without risking their lives. There are thousands of hotel and condo rooms within a two block range of Highway 76. Does it take a Solomon to realize that a lot of those people are going to walk up to the Strip, to participate and enjoy all it has to offer? Besides, isn’t that what we want them to do?
It logically follows that there will be large numbers of pedestrians crossing from one side of the Strip to the other. Along with building infrastructure like roads, bridges, sewer and water plants, it almost seems negligent not to build the necessary infrastructure to get our visitors from one side of the road to the other safely. If “sin city” can use “crossovers” to get its visitors safely across Las Vegas Boulevard without impeding traffic why can’t Branson use a modified version to get its visitors safely from one side of Highway 76, or the Shepherd of the Hills Expressway, to the other safely?
At a minimum, would it be inappropriate to suggest that either the Chamber or the City form a “Pedestrian Safety Committee” to study the status of pedestrian accessibility and safety? Obviously, an Ole Seagull doesn’t think so.
