AUSTIN, Texas — On Sunday, Dean Dzurilla spoke with KVUE about the deadly intersection his family has to cross every day to leave their Lewis Mountain Ranch neighborhood.
Dzurilla has lived near the intersection of FM 1826 and Lewis Mountain Drive for seven years.
He says he and his daughter were almost hit trying to leave their neighborhood a few years ago.
"As we were exiting a car came very close to rear-ending us, and so much so he ended up swerving to get around," explained Dzurilla.
He says the hill next to the exit makes it hard to see oncoming traffic and vice versa.
"There is a series of curves, hills, blind spots and things preventing people from seeing all the way," said Dzurilla.
Dzurilla says he is afraid this will only get worse as Austin grows.
"Just in the past 23 months alone, there has been nine accidents in front of our intersection," Dzurilla said.
His concern is not only the intersection outside of his neighborhood but the entire road. To encourage change he went to a town hall meeting with lawmakers on Tuesday.
"They said they will put together a study and the study could lead to something happening in the next three years," said Dzurilla.
Less than 24 hours after that meeting, two people were killed in a collision on 12700 Ranch Road 1826, which is another intersection a few miles down.
"My heart just sunk – it is a terrible thing," said Dzurilla. "I hope that serves as a wake-up call that we don't have three years to change the road."
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"Hopefully we can go ahead and make some change," added Dzurilla. "So, maybe we can install a traffic signal, some signage or some roadwork where we can change the shape of the road."
His 9-year-old daughter, Juliette, is joining the fight as well. She wrote a letter to representatives explaining her fear of traveling on the road and some solutions to fix 1826.
KVUE has reached out to TxDOT to find out more on the traffic study it is conducting.
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