CLEVELAND (WJW) – It’s a major setback for homeowners who continually have speeding vehicles crash into their houses.

“We just want the madness to stop,” said Sherry Heart.

On Wednesday, residents who live on West Boulevard in Cleveland learned that a proposed plan to improve safety in front of their houses was being delayed.

“It’s so stressful and demoralizing, I can’t even begin to tell you,” she said.

The homes were built on the street long before an I-90 East off-ramp was added. It ends right in a perpendicular T-stop directly across the road from their properties.

For decades, an increasing number of speeding vehicles, and some fleeing from police, have missed the turn and crashed into their properties.

”That’s 44-guardrails, four porches and three cars wrecked in the backyard for me,” said Heart, who is still repairing her century home stone porch from where a pickup truck crashed last November.

Her neighbor, Mildred Santana, also had her porch wiped out three times and her garage taken out as well as 25-guardrails and numerous trees.

“The last car barely missed going into the house and hitting my gas meter that’s right there,” said Santana. “Anybody can be killed. I mean, we could be inside of the house and get killed. We’re not safe even inside the house.”

Recently, as reported by FOX 8 News, the city of Cleveland installed barricades to help protect them, but the driveways remain open.

The Ohio Department of Transportation also changed the timing on the light to try and slow vehicles down with a large plan in place.

“We are working on plans to install a median island to help direct traffic off the ramp and keep them from going into the homes,” said ODOT spokesperson Amanda McFarland.

ODOT engineers estimated the work would cost $510,000, but they only received one bid for $949,000, forcing them to delay the project until additional bids can be obtained.

“Unfortunately there was a single bidder on the contract and it came in nearly twice as much as our engineers estimate,” said McFarland. “As stewards of taxpayer dollars, we want to make sure we are doing things in a way that we are getting the best value for these dollars.” 

They’re hoping to receive additional bids and complete the work by April 2024.

But that’s very concerning for residents heading into the winter months when they report seeing even more accidents.

“It’s very frustrating,” said Jimmy Rivera, whose house has also been damaged.

“Our stress factor is back up,” said Heart. “Because we know there is no solution for us this winter.”

The residents are now asking ODOT and the city to see if temporary cement medians can be added to the street to prevent cars from sliding or crashing into their houses.

They say they won’t rest peacefully until something is done.

“I’m not just screaming just to scream. This is a true problem and someone is going to get hurt,” said Heart.

“I’m nervous all over again,” said Santana.