Grieving residents in the community of Manhattan pushed for road safety improvements after a 13-year-old boy was struck and killed by a semi while riding his bike.

“Your heart breaks for the family,” neighbor Fred Harvey said. “This is a very tight knit community. I have kids who go to school with the boy who died, and it’s just a tragedy.”

A memorial in the Will County community continued to grow for the eighth-grade student, with children tying ribbons, honoring a life cut short.

“My daughter has said he’s a really nice kid,” Harvey stated. “She rode the bus with him, and he’s just a friendly, outgoing boy.”

Police said the collision happened at around 5:35 p.m. Monday evening at State and North streets. The boy was found unresponsive under the semi’s trailer and later pronounced dead, authorities said.

Mayor Mike Adrieansen, in a Facebook post, said residents have previously expressed concerns about semi-truck traffic, especially near schools, parks, the library and the community center.

Neighbors told NBC Chicago they’d like to see a traffic light installed at the intersection. However, the quick fix would be to reroute semis, which they said cut through the town and have little regard for pedestrians and traffic.

“I’ve actually seen another person get hit by a car here too,” Nicholas Disterheft, the owner of Manhattan Pizza, said. “I would love to see less semis, if that was possible.”

The intersection only has one stop sign—for four lanes of traffic.

Adrieansen said change is coming—but much of it depends on the state. Route 52 is a state road—and an official request has been filed to make it a size-restricted truck route.

The village engineer is also working on new crosswalks.

Following the crash, the small town was left grieving, and parents were left with a warning.

“You thank god your kids are safe and you just try to make sure all the kids are safe and the kids are aware of their surroundings. Be extra careful. I mean this is a pretty dangerous intersection, and we have trucks going through here all the time, and just be extra safe.”