Families call for closure of deadly Route 58 cut-through

Andy Fox
·2 min read
36

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — The mother of a daughter who was killed on Route 58 in 2022, as well as the wife of a man killed there Friday, said the Bisco Street cut through on the Chesapeake stretch of the highway should be shut down.

Shelby Blevins was 24 when she died in a Route 58 crash July 20, 2022 at what was then the Snowden Street cut-through. Her stepfather, Mark Wethington, recalled what happened that day.

Previously: Woman killed in Route 58 crash in Chesapeake

“There was a tractor trailer six feet out in the road of 58, way out in the traffic,” he said as he stood in front of a cross with flowers. “Shelby was coming along, and she went underneath of his truck, ripped the roof off of her car, bounced off and ended up right here. This is where she left us. This is all we have left.”

After Blevins’ death, her family was successful in helping get the Snowden Street cut-through shut down.

Previously: ‘Nobody else needs to die here’: Plans to close Route 58 median after deadly accidents

They were helped by family friend Margaret Uccellini, who said she lobbied Chesapeake City Council.

We met with her, and told her two more have died on Route 58 since Friday — one of them Cecil Freeman.

NC man killed in crash along US 58 in Chesapeake

1 dead after single-vehicle crash on Route 58 in Suffolk

His wife, Sabrina Freeman, was startled and emotional when she learned about the latest death at the Bisco Street cut-through.

“What do I think about that? I’m going to cry,” she said. “It brings tears to my eyes. Now my hands are shaking. That’s just terrible. The cut-through had got to be closed.”

Said Blevins’ mother Cindy Wethington: “I appreciate the fact they closed this, but it obviously has not solved the problem for Route 58.”

Wethington and others say issues are created because there is too much traffic going too fast on Route 58, and they say too many have died. The Virginia Department of Transportation, in its most recent traffic data from 2022, says about 78,000 vehicles go each way daily on Route 58 — nearly 91% vehicles with four tires, and another 6.5% tractor-trailers.

“I told the Chesapeake city councilmen, if anyone else dies out here,” Uccellini said, “I will be the first to contact their family and let them know the history of Route 58 with the median strips…and the deaths.”

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