A 19-year-old Allston man is facing multiple charges after he allegedly raced down notoriously dangerous Nonantum Road, crashed into a tree, injuring his passenger, according to state police.
According to witnesses, Rene Selenas-Lara, was racing his 1994 Honda Accord on Nonantum Road at 9:43 a.m., lost control and slammed into a tree, which stopped the car from landing in the Charles River, the state police said.
His passenger, 19-year-old Cynthia Cruz, of Waltham, was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston with minor injuries, the state police said.
Police charged Selena-Lara with racing, speeding, a marked lanes violation, driving a car without a license, and reckless operation of a car, the state police said.
The state police did not have an estimated speed.
Andrew Jablon, a Watertown bicyclist who rides the path along Nonantum Road and the Charles River every day, said he came to the scene just after the accident occurred, and called it "frightening."
"It frightens me because there's no guardrails on either side of the road. That bike path is heavily used - that could easily have been a family riding along there," said Jablon.
Even without racing, statistics show Nonantum Road is a dangerous thoroughfare: According to a state Department of Conservation and Recreation study, there were 87 accidents on Nonantum Road between 2002 and 2004.
Over the last several years, a handful of people have died on Nonantum Road - a winding road that runs from Galen Street by Watertown Square to Soldiers Field Road in Brighton.
Most recently, a 26-year-old Waltham woman died when she lost control of her SUV in December 2008 and crashed into the Charles River.
Forty-six accidents took place at the road's intersection with Charlesbank Road in Newton during those years.
The preponderance of accidents on Nonantum Road compelled local officials, lawmakers, such as state Rep. Peter Koutoujian, D-Waltham, and the Newton Corner Neighborhood Association to take measures to make the road and intersection safer for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians.
"I've said it over and over again: There will be another accident, there will be another death. This has been a mantra I have been citing for five or six years now. Sadly, this mantra continues to prove true," Koutoujian said.
Each time there is an accident on Nonantum Road, Koutoujian said, he calls Richard Sullivan, commissioner of the Division of Conservation and Recreation, and lets him know there's been another one.
"Sadly, we've had this conversation a number of times," Koutoujian said.
The commissioner said a project to make the road safer is now at the top of his priority list and is considered "shovel-ready," a major prerequisite for getting federal stimulus money, Koutoujian said.
"I don't know of another project in the stimulus phases that has so many devastating accidents as this road," he said.
An $8 million construction project to improve the road was slated to be put out to bid around this time, with work expected to begin in spring 2010.
Activists want the road, which is two lanes in both directions, to have three-foot-wide shoulders that can be used by bikers, striped pedestrian crossings near major intersections, and improvements to the multi-use path along the Charles River.
The upcoming project will narrow the roadway to one, 11-foot travel lane in each direction for most of the stretch between Watertown Square and Brooks Street/North Beacon Street in Boston to reduce traffic.
A four-foot median will be added between the two lanes to prevent head-on collisions.
As part of the effort, the state also funded the installation of electrical conduits under the intersection of Nonantum and Charlesbank roads.
Joyce Kelly can be reached at 781-398-8005 or jkelly@cnc.com. Material from a Christine Laubenstein story was used in this story.
