Families Want Changes To Deadly Intersection Near Tulsa Quarry

An Owasso man died after crashing his truck at a notoriously dangerous intersection this weekend.

Police say Timothy Baker ran a stop sign at 46th Street North and 29th East Avenue.

There are several memorials there for people who have died at the intersection. Nearly all have run a stop sign and ended up in a rock quarry on the other side of the fence.

Darrell Adams and Cheryl Adams were busy Thursday, doing what's becoming a monthly tradition. They cleaned up the area that surrounds a memorial for Darrell's son and Cheryl's nephew.

"Just to know that he's not forgotten," Cheryl said.

10/15/2009 Related Story: Tulsa Quarry Wreck Lawsuit Filed By Victim's Family

Troy Adams and Mark Gaches, along with Andrea Merriman, died four years ago Thursday, when their truck went through the intersection at 46th Street North and 129th East Avenue and fell 200 feet into the bottom of a rock quarry.

"He was one in a million. He would walk in a room and end up with every friend in there," said Lori Gaches, Mark's mother.

She's now left to care for his two young sons.

Since Mark's death, she's been begging for something to be done about the intersection. She also lost a cousin at that exact same spot in 2006, three years before her son died.

9/5/2013 Related Story: Owasso Man Dies From Injuries In Quarry Crash

Then this weekend, 55-year-old Timothy Baker's truck became trapped on the boulders that act as a barricade. He later died at the hospital.

"I feel so guilty that I didn't push harder with the city and the state to change...change it out there," Gaches said.

Gaches and the Adams' are desperate for something to be done.

Right now, there's only a stop sign. Both families would like to see flashing lights or warning signs, maybe even rumble strips, to warn drivers to slow down.

"I think it's a little bit of everybody's responsibility," Darrell said.

Cheryl said, "I think they need to get together and split the cost to either put up a flashing light, close the road, barricade it."

They're all hoping this weekend's death was the last and that other families are not forced to endure what they've been through.

"No one should have to get that call, especially if something could prevent it," Gaches said.

The intersection is within Tulsa city limits, and a city spokesperson said traffic engineering plans to go there to survey the area, but that police say speed and running the stop signs are the major factors behind all of the crashes.