by: Kerry Kavanaugh Updated: Mar 2, 2016 - 6:59 PM

NEWTON, Mass. —

People who live near the scene of a deadly crash in Newton tool FOX25 it has been a trouble spot for years.

West Newton Center in a notorious area for traffic congestion, especially where Washington Street intersects with Chestnut, Watertown, and Waltham all within a few hundred feet.

"In a short period, short space, you have 4 major intersections that are all really busy,” Newton City Councilor James Cote said.

FOX25’s Kerry Kavanaugh investigated the history of the intersection and looked at plans already in place to improve it.

Tuesday night a driver coming down Chestnut Street ran a red light and crossed Washington Street before crashing into the Sweet Tomatoes restaurant.

Though traffic patterns likely didn't cause this crash, Cote says problems plaguing the area is something the city has been working to address for some time.

"The improvements are basically take this corridor here and thin it out,” he said.

Cote says studies have been done and plans area in the works for improvements.

One proposal would make Washington Street one lane in either direction from Chestnut Street to the east.
City leaders are also addressing traffic signals, some of which are too short by modern safety standards, some are redundant, and others aren't synced.

The idea is to balance traffic flow with pedestrian safety.

"Pedestrian safety is a big issue. We have a lot of near misses, we get a lot of bumps,” Cote said.

Cote says many people now cross the road where it's most convenient, not necessarily where it's legal.

Newton police tell FOX25 there have been nine crashes at the Washington and Chestnut intersection since 2012.

"This is just a tragic situation, any corrections that we would make here would have no impact on this,” Cote said.