Brittany Kelley
KYLE — Kyle City Council approved several pedestrian crossing treatments throughout the city for $165,798 at its May 18 meeting.
The task order to Tetra Tech, Inc. was initially on the consent agenda, but council members Michael Tobias and Claudia Zapata pulled the item for future discussion.
According to agenda documents, these projects, located at the intersections of Veterans Drive and Gregg Drive, FM 2770 and Jack Ryan and Dacy Lane at Chapa Middle School, are “to facilitate pedestrian mobility, minimize pedestrian-vehicle conflict and prioritize pedestrian safety.”
The crossings will vary, depending on what is needed at the intersection, said Transportation assistant director Ravali Kosaraju. The first is the hybrid beacon system, or PHB, which residents may be familiar with through their commonality in Austin.
“Austin tends to use them quite often at different locations because they’re relatively quick to deploy and they’re only activated if there’s a pedestrian that pushes a button, otherwise they stay blank,” explained Kosaraju.
The other option is popular south of Kyle, in San Antonio, where they use overhead flashers or O/H. These installations are typically used when the locations do not have the specific criteria needed to install PHBs.
“With that said, Veterans Drive and Gregg Drive … this location currently does have a flasher system. It’s somewhat like a rectangular rapid flashing beacon (RRFB) and the challenge with this location that we’ve observed during site visits and following traffic studies is that the flashers are just not as visible as they could be,” said Kosaraju.
Additionally, she stated that there is no illumination at this location and pedestrians are having to wait a long time for vehicles to yield.
The proposed improvement for this intersection is to add PHB, while adding light fixtures.
PHB is also proposed for the crossroad at Dacy Lane toward CMS, since the CMS property entrance is requiring students to have to walk along Dacy Lane. Currently, there is an RRFB, with “shoddy” lighting, as it is solar powered, Rosaraju shared. So, with a new style of crosswalk and lighting, this would provide a safe location for students leaving to and from 3700 Dacy Apartments to the middle school. Furthermore, there is no sidewalk on the east side of Dacy Lane, along the school’s property.
The PHB would either have a push-to-walk mechanism or thermal detection sensing, which is to be finalized after further discussion with Hays CISD.
“I pulled this agenda item because with the PHBs [and] the timing of that is there a way in which we can elongate that timing? I’m thinking especially where our younger children are; they take a little bit longer to cross the street sometimes,” noted Zapata, also asking whether there will be audio at the crosswalks.
The assistant director confirmed that the timing will be determined based on the individuals that will be primarily utilizing the systems and that there will be audible elements, as that is the standard for new infrastructure, due to federal and state level disability requirements.
There is also a plan to create flashers for drivers further away from the new crosswalk, so that they have an advanced notice that they’re approaching it.
Tobias shared a story regarding the end of 2025, where the principal at CMS called him several times to let him know that a little boy got hit by a car and was rushed to the hospital after pushing his sister out of the way to save her.
“It was just very dark there and I saw the video; I saw that child’s flying ear. So, that really stressed me out a lot that day,” he recalled. “I’m just glad [that] now, we are finally getting to this phase.”
Lighting and a sidewalk design would come at a later date based on an engineer’s analysis, said Kosaraju.
“Sidewalk is another thing that we’re looking at to make sure that we are having connectivity, both on east and west side, so we’re not just dumping [these crosswalks] into an area that doesn’t have sidewalks on either side,” she stressed.
The only crosswalk to have a solution of O/H is at FM 2700 and Jack Ryan. Kosaraju noted that this is a common drop-off location for Hays High School students, though there are no crosswalks in the vicinity for them. There is also zero illumination or sidewalks on either side of the road, forcing students to walk either on the pavement itself or in the grass.
So, the city is proposing O/H, as this location does not meet the necessary criteria to be able to install PHB, with thermal detection zones for pedestrian sensing. The “Z” crosswalk would have an at least eight-foot median island at an optimal location, based on engineer analysis and stakeholder input.
“The reason that we were asked to do a ‘Z’ crossing with [the Texas Department of Transportation] is they’ve got data across the state that shows that sometimes a two stage crossing gives drivers and pedestrians time to take it in steps as opposed to having to rush across the street, especially given that this is a pretty wide cross section that they would have to cross,” said the assistant director.
There will also be lighting added and a sidewalk design from Jack Ryan to Carmello, which require a site investigation and feasibility study, said Kosaraju.
“When you’re doing that survey, would [you] be able to see how well it would be lit at night, so that way you could have a deputy that does a crossing guard to where they press the button [during football games] and then, they go across on that end? I was hoping it would be a PHB, but if it’s not, then something to look at are those factors of day, night and especially evening to see how well it would illuminate,” requested Tobias.
Mayor Yvonne Flores-Cale added that she sees students walking throughout the whole area each day, so she would like the crosswalk to be further south.
“I [also] wanted to say: I brought the same exact item to council in 2023 and it was, at the time, called the Beacon Hawk and it went across and I was so bummed that, for some reason, they didn’t go with it. But this is literally everything I could have dreamed of, so thank you,” continued the mayor.
Also praising the project was council member Melisa Medina, but she was concerned that a crosswalk in the Post Oak neighborhood isn’t on this list. She noted that despite reaching out to several school officials, Wallace Middle School is still having students dropped off in the Tobias Elementary School parking lot. So, students are crossing in the dusk hours to come home to Post Oak, without a crossing guard.
In response, Kosaraju stated that these residents can reach out to Kyle 3-1-1 or email any city staff member in Public Works: “That’s how some of these started was literally just a 3-1-1 request. It may take us a while to get there, of course, because, again, FM 150 is a TxDOT roadway. So, probably looking at a long lead time there, but certainly something that we can look at.”
The item was approved unanimously. The timeline for these projects is 18-24 months, according to agenda documents.
Kyle City Council will meet next at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 2.
