News of a deadly accident Thursday morning near the intersection of Zaragoza and Rich Beem came as no surprise to Christi Bryant.
"I was very saddened for the families and the people who lost their lives and were injured, then it was almost expected because this road is almost out of control," she says.
Christi lives right down the street from where the crash happened. We first spoke to her three months ago after she wrote in complaining about traffic problems at the intersection of Zaragoza and Edgemere.
This is what she told us back then,"I have seen so many almost misses and there've been accidents. I just wonder how many do we need before we can get anything safer."
Since then she says there have been more accidents..
"Just right here, two people trying to go in the same direction. If we had a stop light, they would have known when it was their turn," Christi tells us.
In addition to stop lights, Christi wonders about the speed limit. At Zaragoza near Joe Battle, it starts at 50 miles per hour then goes to 55. The further up the road you go, the speed limit increases to 60 miles per hour, that is despite a nearby school and several hundred homes in the area. Residents say it's like living next to freeway.
"It's not a country highway anymore, it's a city street now with residents on either side, so it would seem now that it would need to be slower because this area is not going to stop growing," Christi says.
The city says it planS to install traffic control signals at Zaragoza and Edgemere in about six months. Christi fears for some people, that could be too late.
"I would just hope that the city would look at what happened today and really realize that they need to be proactive so this doesn't happen again," she tells us.
Police say the man who caused the early morning crash was speeding and was drunk, but is it possible a lower speed limit could make things safer here? According to the Texas Department of Transportation and a study conducted last year, it is not necessary. But they say more growth and public complaints could lead to changes in the future. To report concerns to TXDOT call 790-4200.
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