BILLINGS — A family in Billings Heights was unexpectedly awoken early Sunday morning after a car crashed into their home and ruptured a gas line, and the accident has prompted concerns among neighbors about the area's ongoing traffic problems.
Watch video from the crash and damage below:
Around 1:30 a.m., Coralynn Hunt and her family were asleep when a loud noise shook their house on the 1400 block of Wicks Lane. At first, she thought nothing of it until first responders showed up at her door 15 minutes later.
“We had no idea what was happening,” said Hunt. "We were expecting to see something in front of the neighbor's house, in front of our house, and when we came around the corner, all we saw was flashing lights up here in the back of my dad's truck.”
According to Hunt, a car traveling eastbound flew off the road and collided with the side of their home. The vehicle landed on her father's truck and also caused severe damage to the back of her own parked car. While traveling through their yard, the driver of the vehicle took out a main gas line, which forced the family to evacuate for several hours.
"It was just a lot of emotion and a lot of panic in that initial 15 minutes after everything kind of came to light,” said Hunt. "It was a matter of less than 10 minutes of someone's beating on the door. There's been an accident. The cops are here. The EMS is here. We need to figure out what's going on, and then also on top, the gas leak."
According to Sgt. Samantha Puckett with the Billings Police Department, no charges have been filed against the driver, and no injuries were reported.
For Hunt, the accident has intensified concerns among residents along the stretch of Wicks Lane between Hawthorne Lane and Bitterroot Drive. Billings police data indicate just two reported accidents and four traffic complaints for reckless driving along that section since the start of the year.
"There's probably at least two or three accidents just on the stretch a year. Like we've probably seen 12 or 13 accidents in this area since we've lived here,” said Hunt.
Hunt herself was involved in a vehicle accident several years ago at the intersection of Bitterroot Drive and Wicks. She said the street's lack of sidewalks and street lights contributes to many incidents.
“Whether it's people hitting animals because it's so dark, they can't see anything, or not knowing where their turn is. They get rear-ended," said Hunt. "It's just, it's too dark. There's no sidewalks. There's people walking on the side of the road constantly.”
Billings City Engineer Mac Fogelsong said change will soon be on the way.
The city of Billings has planned a $3 million project aimed at improving pedestrian and driver safety on Wicks Lane from Hawthorne Lane to Bitterroot Drive. The project will be funded by gas taxes and street maintenance district funds.
“I call this Wicks Lane Phase Two, so it's the next piece. It'll have sidewalks, curb, and gutter," said Fogelsong. "It's an old county road section that just has the two paved lanes, so it would be widened, new sidewalks ... We may decide to add lights to that. That's probably a discussion with the adjacent residents and whether they prefer lights."
The project will also improve routes to nearby schools, Beartooth Elementary and Medicine Crow Middle School, as a part of the city's Safe Routes to School initiative. Planning is set to begin next year, with construction scheduled for summer 2027.
“We're coming up on the school year," said Fogelsong. "Be cautious, slow down, be patient. Lots of activity when schools open here on the second of September.”
Until then, Hunt hopes drivers will take the initiative to be more cautious.
“Nobody slows down," said Hunt. "This is like the main road for getting to the side of town, so the fact that it didn't originally have streetlights is just a little baffling to me.”
