Accident delays bus traffic on Goodwin Avenue

A 26 Pack bus negotiates around a crash involving a car and another MTD bus along Goodwin Avenue Tuesday evening. According to an eyewitness, the driver pulled up directly behind the bus and made impact with it. Patrick Wade

A 26 Pack bus negotiates around a crash involving a car and another MTD bus along Goodwin Avenue Tuesday evening. According to an eyewitness, the driver pulled up directly behind the bus and made impact with it. Patrick Wade

By Wesley Fane

No one was injured in an accident involving a Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District bus this evening after a driver pulled out into the back of the bus, said Emelinda Escobar, an eyewitness to the event.

The bus was traveling southbound down Goodwin Avenue near Nevada Street around 5:15 p.m. Escobar, freshman in FAA, was standing at the Nevada Street bus stop when the accident happened.

Escobar said the driver was pulling her car out of its parking space as the bus went past the car.

“She just pulled right into it,” Escobar said. “It was very shocking to see…she must not have looked at all.”

Escobar said there were passengers on the bus.

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“A couple of people got off, but some were still on board,” she said.

Urbana and University police responded to the scene. The car sustained a damage front bumper, and was towed away.

Goodwin Avenue was blocked off during the cleanup between Oregon and Nevada streets, and some bus traffic was rerouted onto Gregory Street.

The 26 Pack, 22 Illini, 21 Quad, 2 Red and 80 Orchard Downs routes all travel through the Goodwin Avenue and Nevada Street intersection. Students were left waiting at the Nevada Street stop with no clear answer as to where to board the rerouted buses.

“I’ve been waiting here for about a half hour now,” said Escobar about 20 minutes after the crash. “I still would like to get home. I probably should go somewhere else and wait.”

The MTD would not comment on the accident.