Stand with Anthony Meeks in the heart of Upham’s Corner for a few minutes and it’ll sound like he’s chanting a mantra — and in many ways, he is. “Red light. Red light. Red light,” he notes as cars run a traffic signal at a pedestrian crossing in the middle of the business corridor.

The crossing — and its errant drivers straggling through the light — are part of a broader litany of concerns that Meeks, a longtime resident of the neighborhood, has about pedestrian and road safety along Columbia Road in the roughly twoblock intersection between Dudley and Hancock streets.

Crashes are persistently on his mind, said Meeks.

“Every time I hear a screeching, I’m looking for the thump,” he said. Meeks’ concerns aren’t baseless. According to city data, between 2015 and 2025, there were more than 120 collisions on that stretch of Columbia Road. About 20 of those involved pedestrians.

No fatalities were recorded during that time period, However, the issue has taken on added urgency after Louisa Gag, a cyclist and city transportation planner, was struck and killed on Tremont Street near Roxbury Crossing on July 9.

Many of the safety challenges make navigating intersections along the road hard generally, but especially for older residents or those who are visually or physically impaired, Meeks said.

Meeks’ list of concerns extends beyond running lights. He says cars drive too fast and take liberties cutting or turning through recently changed lights. The crosswalks are rutted and pose tripping hazards.

Linda Webster, the owner of Pacific Insurance Agency, which is in that block of Columbia Road, said that when she crosses the intersection at Dudley Street she worries about having to dodge turning cars.

“Whether you’re in the crosswalk or not, they don’t care,” Webster said.

The crossing is made more difficult by a crosswalk with deep ruts, about which Webster warned, “you will trip.”

The list continues. The stone-studded median that cuts down the middle of Columbia Road is poorly marked and designed and has caused collisions, including, as Meeks tells it, a handful of times where cars flipped over [the Banner couldn’t independently verify any instances of roll-overs].

Meeks said he’s talked to residents who intentionally change their route to avoid some of the more concerning intersections.

“I feel that, as pedestrians, we shouldn’t have that type of fear when we approach a traffic signal that is there for our safety,” he said. “It’s actually not doing the job effectively at all.”

But getting satisfactory action has been a challenge for Meeks, who said he’s submitted at least 40 requests through the city’s 311 system, which allows the public to submit non-emergency service requests. He said those 311 requests have been closed out without any change. Often, Meeks said, the city has directed him to the Columbia Road Transportation Action Plan, an initiative the city launched in 2024. That plan is intended to install safety improvements and improve crosstown access for individuals traveling on Columbia Road.

“Basically, what the city is saying is that, ‘Okay, we have this plan in place, you’ve got to wait,’” Meeks said. “In the meantime, our safety is at stake here.”

The city was unable to respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

While trying to use the 311 system to get change has largely “been a nightmare,” Meeks said there has been a handful of successes. At one point, the Boston Transportation Department sent out an engineer to assess hazards. The city also painted a yellow outline on the streetlights at a pedestrian crossing at 555 Columbia Rd.,the one where Meeks was watching vehicle after vehicle run the light.

In some places, residents have tried to implement their own solutions, like painting a spot orange where cars often hit the median to try to make it more visible, or adding a traffic cone as a warning.

Meeks said the community could also use smaller-scale solutions now — things like restructuring crosswalks to make the distance pedestrians cross shorter and make vehicles more likely to slow down, as well as increased signage to make sure drivers are aware of stop lights.

Some of those kinds of quicker fixes that Meeks said he would like to see now were part of the plan for the Columbia Road Transportation Action Plan. In late 2024, the city announced it intended to pursue an “early action project” at four sites along Columbia Road, including at the intersection with Dudley Street, while developing the plan for the broader roadway.

In Upham’s Corner those early interventions were slated to include the use of flex posts to add space between the curb and traffic, shortening the crosswalk distance, as well as adding measures to discourage drivers from turning the corner onto Columbia Road too quickly.

That early action project had an expected installation date of spring 2025, according to city documents. But as of July 7, there was no sign of those interventions at the Columbia Road and Dudley Street intersection.

“We’re not asking them to do a billion-dollar project,” Meeks said. “We’re just asking them to come do some simple safety fixes.”