At the request of Driftwood Subdivision homeowners and other concerned citizens, TXDOT will complete new engineering studies at the Driftwood Road and Crystal Beach Road intersections to determine if there is enough side street traffic to interrupt SH 87 traffic. “At present, it is not a matter of “if” there is going to be a fatality accident but rather “when” a fatality accident is going to occur at this intersection (Driftwood Road),” said Everett Johnston, President of the Driftwood HOA. Both intersections were operating as Red-Yellow-Green signal prior to Hurricane Ike, and traffic volumes have been slowly increasing. According to TXDOT, “We have had similar requests in previous summers for the intersection of SH 87 at Crystal Beach, and we have made numerous traffic counts, site visits, crash data reviews. Each year it has fallen short of the requirements outlined in the Texas Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, which is the guideline we are required to follow by law.”
TXDOT is planning to complete the study this month.
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The last sentence in the comments of Chris Alexander, sums it up better than any opinions I”ll heard so far. Way to go. We will file for an exception to the state guideline if they deny our request. The entire community needs to get behind the effort to improve safety at our traffic intersections.
I’ll be content sitting at a traffic light with nothing coming for a few minutes if it means I have a safer way to cross a major highway for myself and loved ones! I hope the study can be done when our traffic volumes are at their highest to help reach the numbers needed!! Thanks to the residents who came forward and to TxDOT for trying to make it safer for everyone on the peninsula!
We have a place on Crystal Canals on Island Blvd off of Crystal Beach Road. Getting onto HWY 87 is a nightmare on the weekends. With Swede’s on the corner, we have to watch traffic from the store, oncoming traffic from the beach, traffic east and west on HWY 87 and the turn lane going to the beach. And some drivers coming from the beach are impaired…too much alcohol or other substances.
We need the signals to operate as they did prior to IKE. I’m not wanting to be a fatality statistic!
Some survey should not decide if my life and that of my family and friends is worthy!