Last week, her father watched it almost happen again.

“It scares the absolute daylights out of me,” said Lee Blanchard, who calls his daughter’s survival a miracle and the intersection of Hobbs Drive and 3rd Avenue, one of the most dangerous intersections in Alpena.

A school crossing guard and other fixes may soon help students navigate the intersection safely, city and school officials say.

The intersection falls on a boundary between the City of Alpena and Alpena Township. The city maintains the intersection’s traffic signals in an agreement with the Alpena County Road Commission, according to road commission Managing Director Ryan Brege.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Footprints in snow on Wednesday morning show the path of students crossing a busy Alpena intersection on their way to Thunder Bay Junior High School.

Long lines of traffic roared through the intersection in all directions between 7 and 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, the streets and crosswalks poorly lit by two yellowish street lights.

In the pre-sunrise darkness, scores of vehicles turned onto and away from 3rd Avenue west of Hobbs, where Thunder Bay Junior High School sits on a road with no other outlet.

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Parents trying to drop off junior high students on time competed with numerous buses leaving the junior high and Alpena High School, with its student parking lot situated on the northeast corner of the intersection.

Even with the help of a stoplight at the intersection, drivers attempting to turn onto Hobbs or 3rd from either direction accelerated abruptly to get through gaps between vehicles, their sightlines often reduced by buses also trying to turn.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Thunder Bay Junior High School students reach the sidewalk along 3rd Avenue in Alpena after crossing Hobbs Drive/Bagley Street on Tuesday.

A junior high school student attempting to cross 3rd nearly disappeared against the darkness in between the flash of headlights.

The student, laden with a backpack and thick boots, had to run across the slushy road to avoid a driver trying to navigate the congestion while trying to turn.

“It’s an absolute nuthouse,” said Blanchard of the intersection where an SUV struck his daughter while she walked north across 3rd. The vehicle went over the child, but its tires did not strike her.

Last week, while driving his daughter to school, he watched the car in front of him strike a high school boy and his junior high sister crossing the same street.

“I could see it coming,” Blanchard said. “I started yelling, ‘No, no, no, no, no.'”

As the students, with whom Blanchard’s daughter used to walk to school, neared the north side of 3rd, the driver trying to turn onto the road from northbound Hobbs sped up and tapped the students, who were physically unharmed, Blanchard said.

Since his daughter’s incident, other parents have told him their children have been bumped by cars or had to scramble for safety at the busy intersection.

“It’s scary,” said sixth grader Emma Barz. “Sometimes we have to completely, full-blown run because it looks like cars are going to turn onto us. That happens a lot.”

She and seventh grader Dominic Ford think a crossing guard might help students cross the road safely.

The students may not have to wait long for that help. Alpena Public Schools, in partnership with the City of Alpena, may soon post job openings for four crossing guards to serve at the Hobbs intersection and at three other locations in the area, said Superintendent David Rabbideau.

The city will hire the guards, and the school district will pay their salary, he said.

The district may also adjust bus routes to keep the large vehicles away from the busy intersection during peak traffic hours.

Rabbideau approached city leaders after the October incident, seeking avenues to make the intersection safer for students.

Alpena Mayor Matt Waligora said he and City Engineer Steve Shultz are not prepared to say what changes the city may make at the intersection, but officials are researching options for better lighting, additional turn signals, and other improvements.

“Student safety is the number one thing we try to ensure,” Rabbideau said. “We recognize there’s a problem at that intersection and we’re working to make sure it’s safe for everyone to come and go there.”