WAUKESHA -- An option for pedestrians to cross a busy highway shut down just two weeks before a deadly crash.
A 23-year-old woman was killed crossing Highway 164 Thursday night in Waukesha. People who live in the area say people cross the street to get to the gas station or the nearby park.
I wouldn't even cross that street at all," says Sarah Knight.
Knight saw firsthand just how dangerous this road is. She was driving her kids home when she saw a minivan hit 23-year-old Megan Bock.
"At first we thought they hit an animal because it was a sudden slam, almost like a big pop," Knight says.
Drivers pulled over and started calling 911.
"We saw a purse in the middle of the road, we saw a shoe," Knight says.
Bock was taken to the hospital where she died.
Knight and her kids used to cross under 164 through a tunnel. So did a lot of her neighbors.
"It makes it safe for me to take my daughter to the school over there or park during the summertime," says Josh Kennedy.
But Waukesha's Public Works Department says the tunnel was not structurally sound and would have cost $200,000 to fix. They shut it down two weeks ago. They say they waited until the crosswalk opened at 164 and Sunset Drive so people had a safe option to cross the street.
But after the accident, neighbors wonder if bringing back the tunnel is the better option.
"I don't see why they would cut off a safe avenue for children to get to their school or to get to the park," Josh Kennedy
The city says part of the reason why the tunnel was shut down was because they did a count and found not very many people were using it.
