A juvenile was struck by a car Tuesday afternoon while crossing the Northwest Expressway bridge over Lake Hefner Parkway in Oklahoma City, according to police. The collision happened around 3:45 p.m. on the elevated span of the six-lane highway, prompting emergency crews to be called to the scene.
The Oklahoma City Police Department said the child was crossing Northwest Expressway when the car struck them, according to KOCO. The driver remained at the scene following the crash, the station reported. Police have not released the child's age, and the severity of the juvenile's injuries remains unclear.
A Notoriously Risky Stretch of Road
The bridge sits at the interchange of Northwest Expressway, also known as State Highway 3, and Lake Hefner Parkway — a junction long flagged by local traffic safety analyses as one of Oklahoma City's most accident-prone intersections, according to the McGuire Law Firm. Northwest Expressway itself is a high-volume, six-lane divided arterial posted at 50 mph, serving as a principal route across northern Oklahoma City, per OKHighways.
The corridor has drawn attention from city officials before. Oklahoma City's Vision Zero initiative identified Northwest Expressway as part of the city's high-injury network, noting that most traffic fatalities occur on streets with speeds of 45 mph or above or on streets with limited lighting, according to the Oklahoma City Free Press. The city adopted that policy after traffic deaths spiked 34 percent in 2021.
Federal Dollars Aimed at the Corridor
A $25 million safety grant includes projects along Northwest Expressway.
Why the juvenile was crossing the elevated bridge remains unclear.
Part of a Broader, Troubling Pattern
This is not the first pedestrian crash Hoodline has reported on a busy OKC arterial in recent months.
No further details on the juvenile's condition or the crash investigation have been released.
