by CY YOUNG JR.
Ever since Kyle was incorporated as a city, motorists have driven north on the access road on the west side of Interstate 35 to FM 1626, then crossed east and taken the access road in order to gain access to I-35 going north.
This turn on the Kyle Parkway bridge has always been a legal right turn. There are two traffic lights at this intersection – one for the paved shoulder and one for the lane to its left. The fact that the shoulder has its own traffic light infers that its installers expected motorists in that lane to make a legal right turn.
I teach a ticket-dismissal class authorized by the State of Texas. On page 34, the manual states: “A driver may operate a vehicle on an improved (paved) shoulder to the right of the main traveled portion of the roadway, as long as necessary, and when the operation may be done in safety to ... overtake or pass another vehicle that is slowing or stopped on the main traveled portion of the highway, is disabled, or is preparing to make a left turn.”
A few months ago, TxDOT, in violation of its mission statement to ... “Work with others ...,” decreed that this shoulder be shut down, thereby creating a bottleneck for Kyle motorists turning right in order to go north on I-35. The day the lane closure was installed, I called the Kyle Superintendent of Traffic and asked if he knew about this closure. He said no, TxDOT didn’t confer with him, but that he would go up immediately to the intersection and check it out.
Next, I called TxDOT to complain. I was told that the person responsible for this closure was Gary Rice. I made numerous calls to good ol’ Gary; he never took my calls nor did he call me back.
Compounding the problem is the short green time the northbound westside traffic light remains green. The light at this intersection is red for one minute 52 seconds to about two minutes and 10 seconds, while the green light is on only six seconds to 10 seconds. Therefore, this insane shoulder closure results in a horrendous tie-up, particularly at early morning rush hour. Motorists wishing to turn right have to wait for motorists turning left. If you are 10 cars back, you can figure out the wait time. It’s not short.
The logical solution is to return the right lane to a shoulder or turn lane. Then motorists who want to turn right may do so; motorists who wish to turn left, may also do so. This is a legal and a safe right turn on the improved shoulder.
On July 31, I taught a ticket-dismissal class in south Austin. One of my students had been given a ticket by Kyle Traffic Officer David Saenz and went before Judge Sundra Spears for the case. When my student complained to Saenz about receiving a ticket for making what had previously been a legal right turn, the officer replied, “I could have given you two tickets, one for an illegal right turn and one for driving on the shoulder.” (paraphrased).
I went to the Kyle Police Department and talked to a sergeant to find a way to deal with this situation. This officer didn’t listen to one word I said. He spent the whole time drawing diagrams, showing me what the signs said about no left turns. He insulted my intelligence by inferring that I don’t know how to read traffic signs. I mentioned that I was driving a car before he was born and certainly know how to interpret posted signs – as well as his hostility.
I learned at the end of this meeting that the sergeant wasn’t from Kyle, therefore knew nothing about our history, or that the improved shoulder in question had been, for many years, a legitimate right turn lane.
Does anybody care about Kyle motorists? Are we to lay down, submissively, and do whatever a government agency decrees? What’s the problem with righting a wrong? Why can’t we get TxDOT to regain its sanity and return that shoulder to a proper turn lane?
I’m aware that by the end of 2013 this lane will be converted to a one-way southbound lane. In the meantime, motorists are severely inconvenienced and made to pay fines they shouldn’t have to pay.
