Residents living along one busy highway in Dallas fear for their safety as speeding cars occasionally breach property fences and end up on their yards.
Part of Northwest Highway, near Buckner Boulevard, has earned a bad reputation, and people living in the area who spoke with NBC 5 DFW are claiming the City of Dallas and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) are not helping to improve safety by slowing traffic.
The Dallas Express has reported extensively on traffic safety issues in Dallas, which included spotlighting a study that determined Dallas was one of the most dangerous cities in the United States for pedestrians.
Earlier this month, DX covered a story surrounding the latest City bond proposal, which will allocate less than 2% of its entire transportation bond towards “Vision Zero,” an ambitious plan to “eliminate all traffic-related deaths and reach a 50% reduction in severe injuries from crashes by 2030,” according to the City’s website.
“We’ve got people in the neighborhood that are afraid to have their kids play in the backyard,” Steve Mendoza told NBC 5.
Mendoza said the fence surrounding his neighborhood, The Enclave at Wyrick Estates, has been shattered no less than three times.
According to TxDOT records, over the past five years, at least 688 crashes have been recorded along the stretch of road between Audelia and Garland Roads. Since Northwest Highway is classified as a state roadway and city street, residents like Barry O’Reilly want help from TxDOT and the City of Dallas.
For his part, Mendoza said he feels trapped between the two bureaucratic offices with no resolution in sight.
“The state is saying that it’s for the City of Dallas to solve. The City of Dallas is saying this is a TxDOT road so they have no control over it. And really, we’re just we’re looking for help because we’re caught in the middle,” Mendoza said.