Neighbors alarmed after another car crashes into Macon pedestrian bridge

The loud slam of a vehicle crashing into a walking bridge is familiar sound to a Beall’s Hill resident.

One of a handful of severe crashes into the Beall’s Hill Pedestrian Bridge on the dead end of Hazel Street in Macon happened again Sunday. Local residents say there aren’t enough safety precautions to slow down speeders approaching the bridge.

April Griffin, a 44-year-old school counselor, said the sound of the crash two blocks away woke her up around 1:30 a.m.

“We fell asleep on the sofa and then I just heard a boom,” Griffin said. “I knew what it was.”

Griffin provided videos of the scene that showed her and other neighbors walking over and finding an upside down blue Honda sedan slanted on the walking bridge stairs that overlook a train track about 100 feet below. The bridge connects the Beall’s Hill neighborhood to the rear of Alexander II Elementary Magnet School on College Street.

While the car was flipped, a young woman escaped from the driver’s seat and walked away from the scene, according to Griffin and other neighbors.

“We were trying to help her but she was in such a panic and she was just screaming,” Griffin told The Telegraph. “So then she just took off and she was going through the neighborhood screaming.”

It was unclear if the driver was injured, found or faces charges. The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office said it was still investigating the crash and an accident report describing what happened was not yet available by Monday afternoon.

Videos show the Macon-Bibb County Fire Department crew assessed the scene after Griffin called 911 to report the crash.

Elliot Lester Jr., an employee for Lester’s Garage & Towing, said the towing company has removed at least three to four vehicles from previous crashes in the same spot in recent years.

“You would think somebody’s on the racetrack by the way the accidents look,” Lester said.

Hazel Street is a long, straight, two-lane road through the quiet Beall’s Hill neighborhood.

A light above the bridge didn’t work at the time of the crash, and the street doesn’t have speed bumps nor a dead end sign.

“I think those are some things we need. We don’t need to continue until it’s a casualty,” Griffin said.

Maintenance requests

Multiple people have requested the county cleans up the bridge after dangerous crashes happened there since 2017, according to submissions on SeeClickFix, which lets people report non-emergencies that need fixing to the county.

A submission in September 2022 said neighbors cleaned up debris and were waiting for repairs on the bridge. The issue was assigned to the Macon-Bibb County Public Works Department, according to SeeClickFix.

Another report in August 2023, said the area had crash debris again and was in “dangerous condition.”

“Pedestrian bridge at end of Hazel Street hit by car and railing broken and pushed into sidewalk,” the report said. “This is a dangerous condition for children and parents walking to Alexander II elementary school on the other side of the bridge.”

The county again assigned the issue to the public works department, according to SeeClickFix.

Another crash happened in August 2017, and that wasn’t the first accident there, Sam Kitchens, a former Macon-Bibb County Parks and Beautification director, previously told The Telegraph.

Chris Floore, chief communications officer of Macon-Bibb County, told The Telegraph he was looking into the issue and would provide more information as it became available.

“We are contacting companies to get quotes for repairs to the damages done to the Hazel Street pedestrian bridge, and Facilities Management will be checking the lights there, as well,” Floore said. “We have not received any requests for changes to infrastructure or additional features through SeeClickFix nor Traffic Engineering.”

The Telegraph requested accident reports of the previous crashes from the sheriff’s office, confirmation of repairs from the public works department and information on their costs from the finance department but didn’t receive responses prior to publication.

This is a developing story and will be updated as that information is made available.

This story was originally published December 30, 2025 at 6:00 AM.