PORTLAND, Ore. -- A vigil, along a dark stretch of Barbur Boulevard in Southwest Portland was timed for the Monday evening commute to meet two goals.
The first was to honor the life of Angela Burke who died after a car hit and killed her as she walked her bike in the bike lane Wednesday night.
Background: Driver charged with homicide after hitting pedestrian
The second goal, to draw attention to a heavily used stretch of road, designated a "high crash corridor" by the city of Portland.
Dozens of people, from all walks of life, joined the event. Burke had recently moved to Portland from New York and worked at A Loft Hotel in Portland.
Friends called her a "beacon of light." Neighborhood organizer, Marianne Fitzgerald explained, "this is the second pedestrian killed on Barbur in three months - and that's two deaths too many."
In September a man was hit and killed by a car while he was in the crosswalk near the intersection of Barbur and Capitol Highway.
Portland Police Bureau investigators said the man was crossing against the light. Still, a man died on the street and neighbors are now demanding changes.
They want better lighting, marked crosswalks, sidewalks, and slower traffic speeds.
The City of Portland plans to use federal stimulus money to add at least four-thousand feet of new sidewalks to Barbur Boulevard, and other safety measures, in coming months. It is also stepping up law enforcement patrols and looking to make engineering changes to Barbur in order to boost safety.
The driver who hit and killed Burke, Caleb Pruitt, is facing charges of Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants and Criminally Negligent Homicide.
