Pilsen Intersection Where Bride-To-Be Was Killed Will Get Pedestrian Island, Curb Bumpouts

Almost a year after a hit-and-run driver killed Marcela Herrera at the corner of South Ashland and West Cullerton avenues, the city says it will install a pedestrian island and a string of curb bumpouts along that stretch of Pilsen, changes her family and friends have been demanding since her death.

City officials laid out the plan at a community meeting Wednesday, telling neighbors that work on Ashland Avenue between Cullerton Avenue and 18th Place is already underway and expected to wrap by fall. Herrera, 22, was struck and killed at that intersection last July, just weeks before her wedding. Her fiancé, Mauricio Leyva, was also injured in the crash. Police say the investigation remains open, but there have been no updates in the case.

The announcement came a week after Herrera's loved ones launched a petition calling for a pedestrian island at Ashland and Cullerton. By Thursday morning, it had drawn 600 signatures. Diego Garcia, who described Herrera as his best friend, said other neighbors have told him they've been hit by cars or feel unsafe crossing that same intersection.

Carl Schwarzer, assistant chief traffic engineer for the city's Department of Transportation, said the upgrades will include a permanent, concrete pedestrian island and curb bumpout at Cullerton and Ashland. Two more intersections, at 19th Street and 18th Place, will get curb bumpouts as well, though those will start out painted with plastic posts before being upgraded to concrete this fall, according to Allison Porton, a consultant for the department.

The project traces back to last fall, when 25th Ward Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez's office asked the city to conduct a traffic study of the corridor, said Lucia Moya Calderon, the alderman's chief of staff. The ward office then set aside $75,000 in menu money, the discretionary funding aldermen receive for infrastructure projects, specifically for a pedestrian island at the intersection where Herrera died. After reviewing crash and traffic data and meeting with residents, the transportation department recommended adding the curb bumpouts too, which will be paid for through the city's Complete Streets program.

"Unfortunately, the process takes time because it has to be a collaboration with neighbors and schools," Sigcho-Lopez said. "It is our goal and commitment to make sure that tragedies like the death of Marcela never happen again."

Ashland Avenue in that stretch carries heavy traffic past St. Pius V School, Cooper Elementary School and a row of local businesses, and several residents at Wednesday's meeting said the improvements are overdue. But many pushed for the city to go further, particularly at Ashland and Cermak Road, an intersection used daily by students and families connected to Benito Juarez Community Academy. Moya Calderon said the city has now opened a traffic study for that intersection as well.

Residents pointed to Casa Yucatán, a 98-unit affordable housing development going up at 21st Street and Ashland, as another reason the corridor needs broader fixes. Families moving into that building will be walking the same blocks where Herrera was killed, and neighbors said safety upgrades there should not wait for another crash to force the issue.

Herrera was known in Pilsen as a community organizer and an entrepreneur just getting her footing. Those close to her remember her laugh and her love of music, and friends described her as nurturing and generous. In the months since her death, Garcia said, the people who loved her have come to see the fight for road safety as part of getting her justice, not separate from it.

"Justice also looks like road safety improvements," Garcia said. "Justice also looks like this not happening to other neighbors."

Herrera is not the only recent hit-and-run victim in Chicago. On the Southwest Side, the family of Damian Gomez, a high school student killed in a hit-and-run in Chicago Lawn this spring, has raised similar concerns about dangerous streets in their neighborhood.

Garcia and other organizers are holding a rally Sunday at Dvorak Park, hoping to turn the momentum from the petition into a broader push for infrastructure changes across the ward and citywide policies aimed at protecting pedestrians. For now, the timeline is set: the pedestrian island and bumpouts at Ashland and Cullerton are due this fall, with the painted bumpouts at 19th and 18th Place slated for the same upgrade to concrete once the season allows. The traffic study at Ashland and Cermak is underway, with no completion date yet announced.