WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas — Drivers in the Leander area are growing more and more concerned over a stretch of Highway 29 and U.S. 183, where several crashes have happened recently.
If you talk to anyone driving this stretch of highway, they’ve got an opinion on it. KVUE spoke to a few drivers and here’s what they had to say:
“It's a little bit scary,” said one driver.
“It's kind of an annoyance,” another said.
"There’s always traffic on 183. You can't ever see who is coming or going,” another person said.
Melissa Orr, who lives just across from the intersection of 183 and Seward Junction Loop, said it's just plain dangerous.
“Every single day, there's an accident. Maybe not every single day, but out of the last nine days, seven accidents,” Orr said.
She said the problem comes from cars trying to cross 183 where people are driving over 60 mph.
“See, the cars are coming so fast, you literally wait until there's a big break because if you don't, you'll be the next accident,” Orr said.
So crashes have happened back to back.
“On Monday afternoon, we were sitting outside in our backyard and we heard a terrible crash that happened here,” Orr said as she pointed to the intersection. “Then Tuesday night, there was another crash here.”
Orr said a semi-truck driver was STAR-flighted to a hospital this week due to one of the crashes.
“It’s sad. It's sad for the families, even when they're not fatal,” Orr said.
Orr said traffic backup is long, even where there are no accidents.
“In rush hour, it can take up from Larkspur, up to this intersection, with no accidents, it can take you 10 minutes when it’s just two blocks away,” Orr said.
Orr said it can be hours-long when there are accidents – and she worries it's only going to get worse.
“The infrastructure is not ready for all the houses being built,” Orr said. “They just broke ground on a new housing community over there that's going to increase the traffic at this intersection. It's ridiculous. Then when the Target gets built, it's going to be even more ridiculous. So a light needs to happen sooner than later.”
KVUE reached out to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), which said in a statement that it has been made aware of people's concerns of the area.
TxDOT said it's already done a study on the intersection and it qualifies for a traffic light, but it can take up to two years to install one for various reasons.
Here is TxDOT's full response:
“TxDOT has studied this intersection and it meets criteria for a traffic signal. When we conduct a traffic engineering study, our engineers determine if a signal is warranted by carefully evaluating the number of vehicles and pedestrians that use the intersection. They also consider the layout of the intersection, development in the area, delays experienced by motorists during peak hours, average vehicle speeds, future road construction plans and the number and types of crashes recorded.
Traffic signals typically take at least two years to complete once an intersection meets criteria for a signal. Once an intersection meets criteria for a signal, TxDOT must identify funding for the project, design the signal and then send the project out for bids for construction. Another factor that could extend the timeline are utility conflicts, which have to be resolved.”
In the meantime, Orr said her children are scared to practice driving with these road conditions. She said she’s also scared of the road conditions.
“It's not a good four-way stop. There's too much traffic for it to be a four-way stop, and something has to change,” Orr said.
When asked about how many crashes have happened at the intersection, TxDOT said it is still working to get exact numbers.