A resident who brought concerns over Sterling’s uncontrolled intersections wants to see changes made and cleanup done.

“Has there been any update on what we talked about the last time with traffic studies?” Marissa Rodriguez, who lives at the corner of Avenue F and 10th Street, asked the Sterling City Council on May 18.

In answering Rodriguez’s questions, Sterling City Manager Scott Shumard revealed a positive piece of news about a federal traffic study grant the city has been waiting to receive.

Rodriguez first appeared before the council at its May 4 meeting to express concerns about uncontrolled intersections and drivers going through those intersections at a high rate of speed. At that meeting, Rodriguez and neighbor Rachel Padilla mentioned multiple accidents, including one earlier that day, at uncontrolled intersections in their neighborhood.

“We need to move forward with something to protect our neighborhood and the safety of lives,” Rodriguez said then.

In November 2024, the city was awarded a $320,000 U.S. Department of Transportation Safe Streets and Roads for All grant. After multiple requests from Mayor Diana Merdian to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s office, the grant appears to be moving forward, Shumard said.

“We received updated grant agreements from the U.S. DOT on May 5. We accepted them, they sent us the final agreement on May 11 and on May 13, we sent in the signed agreement for the grant,” Shumard said.

The city is waiting to receive the countersigned agreement and must have that agreement before it can proceed with the citywide study of all intersections.

Shumard said the study of all intersections in Sterling is due by the end of 2027.

“As soon as we get the countersigned agreement back, we intend to start right away,” he said.

Rodriguez said she continues to be concerned about crashes at the uncontrolled intersection and drivers going through the intersection at high rates of speed without yielding in any direction. That includes Sterling Police Department vehicles, she said.

She claims she has witnessed SPD vehicles with no lights or sirens going through the intersection without yielding.

“I am curious, if you were to run the GPS data on all officers’ vehicles during regular patrols, how many of them actually yield at these intersections? What kind of liability would the city be responsible for if they were in an accident at this intersection due to not yielding?” Rodriguez asked.

She also expressed concern over large amounts of debris in the street, sidewalks and her yard after two separate crashes in early May.

“There are still shards on the sidewalk, grass and on the street. It is not my responsibility to clean up after an accident that shouldn’t even be happening in the first place,” Rodriguez said.

She said there are many small children who play in the yards, as well as people who walk their dogs on the sidewalks.

“There are people walking there constantly with dogs and with little kids. I think it needs to be a priority to clean up after an accident,” she said.

Sterling Police Chief Pat Bartel said it is the responsibility of the towing company to clean up the surrounding area of an accident.

“If they aren’t able to get all the pieces, we usually talk to Public Works about having the street sweeper come through or something of that nature,” he said.