Firefighter Taylor Hawes of the Kyle Fire Department spreads absorbent on a stain after a two-vehicle collision in August 2009 at the intersection of FM 1626 and Marketplace Ave. The intersection’s confusing design is being blamed for at least 20 accidents, and city officials hope to install a stoplight there soon. (Photo by Sean Kimmons)
by SEAN KIMMONS
A confusing intersection in Kyle that is being blamed for at least 20 vehicle collisions in the past year could see a traffic light soon, city officials say.
The Kyle City Council recently directed city staff to contact Texas Department of Transportation for a possible stoplight at FM 1626 and Marketplace Ave. after hearing concerns about its design.
City officials have already handed over accident reports to the transportation department and will conduct a traffic study at the intersection by next week, Interim City Manager James Earp said.
If TxDOT determines that the intersection warrants a stoplight, they will fund and install one for roughly $220,000 to $250,000. Before that happens, the city would have to agree to spend up to $20,000 for design work, Earp said.
By taking a partnership route, the city could see the stoplight months sooner than waiting for a backlogged TxDOT to get around to it.
“If we go this way we can literally be done within 14 weeks,” Earp said. “Within 36 weeks TxDOT probably wouldn’t have started on it.”
In 2006, the city doled out $11 million to widen FM 1626 from IH-35 to FM 2770 in a pass-through financing partnership with TxDOT. The partnership allowed the project to be expedited as TxDOT dealt with funding issues.
Despite the city’s help to fund the project, TxDOT is still responsible for maintaining the highway, such as installing stoplights.
A stoplight was originally planned in the FM 1626 revamp designs, but not until traffic numbers at the intersection warranted the light, Earp said.
In the meantime, the delay has caused a confusing design at the intersection. The design flaw stems from Marketplace Ave. bottlenecking from four lanes (on the south side) to two lanes (on the north side).
The northern portion of Marketplace Ave. will eventually be expanded and connected to Kohler’s Crossing, Earp said.
“It’s confusing,” he said of the intersection. “It’s somewhat built in an unorthodox way.”
After the FM 1626 widening project was completed, TxDOT came in and striped the intersection again and placed plastic road studs to help guide drivers, Earp said.
City officials believe a stoplight is still needed to deter dangerous collisions at the intersection, which have mostly been “t-bone” impacts.
“I felt the current striping made the situation worse,” Mayor Lucy Johnson said. “I sincerely hope that we can come up with a solution with TxDOT to make the intersection safer because right now it is unacceptable.”
