PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — The Kent County Road Commission is on a tight timetable to finish a major project near Rockford, working to make a steep hill with a history of deadly crashes less attractive to thrill-seekers.
Crews are regrading Jericho Avenue NE near Peter Creek Drive, north of Rockford High School in Plainfield Township. Longtime road commission employees say the scope of the project is unlike anything they’ve seen.
“Been with the road commission 37 years and we have never lowered a hill and a road 15 feet, but that is what we are doing on Jericho,” Road Commission Deputy Managing Director Wayne Harrall said.
Hill-jumping crash near Rockford that killed teen exposed fatal pattern
Crews are dropping the grade of the Jericho from 14.4% to 10.4% at a price tag of about $500,000. Harrall said crews are moving 500,000 cubic feet of material to make it happen.
A Target 8 investigation found there have been at least five crashes resulting in six deaths on the same stretch of Jericho since 1966,the most recent of which on Thanksgiving 2023 left Nevaeh Downs, 18, dead. She and her friend were trying to “catch air” on Jericho hill. The friend, who deputies say was going about 100 mph when the crash happened, was sentenced to several months in jail after pleading down to a misdemeanor in the case. There were also at least four nonfatal crashes on the Jericho hill since 2004, including one in 2022 that resulted in serious injuries…