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69
TOMORROW
ITH
YEAR • ISSUE 70 • 14 PAGES
COLLEGE STATION • TX
See extended forecast. Page 2.
TUESDAY • DECEMBER 9 • 1997
An accident waiting to happen
eports blame collisions on haphazard drivers, congested roadways
The sheer volume
i
f vehicles traveling
ftirough that area
jresents numerous
opportunities for
ccidents to occur."
Lt. Scott McCollum
iDit:College Station Police Dept.
By Robert Smith
Senior staff writer
More accidents occur on Briarcrest Drive than on any other street
in Bryan, according to reports by the Bryan Police Department.
The BPD reported that 71 automobile accidents have occurred this
year on Briarcrest as of Nov. 30, not including Briarcrest intersections.
Four of the top five high collision areas in Bryan are on Briar
crest addresses.
Sgt. Choya Walling of the BPD said Briarcrest Drive is consistently
heavily congested in traffic.
“There is a high volume of traffic on Briarcrest,” Walling said. “It is
the largest east-west street in Bryan.”
Walling said the opening of Blinn College last year increased the traf
fic on Briarcrest.
The BPD have reported 1,760 auto collisions this year, through
Nov. 30.
The intersection at E. Frontage SSH 6 Road and Briarcrest has
been the scene of 20 auto collisions this year, more than any oth
er intersection.
Walling said that some of the accidents on Briarcrest occur when
drivers illegally use the middle lane.
“More and more people are using that middle left turn lane as an ac
celeration lane,” Walling said. “The more that people use it that way, the
more opportunity there is for an accident.”
Nineteen auto collisions have occurred this year at North Texas Av
enue and East William J. Bryan Parkway.
The College Station Police Department has reported more accidents
this year than the Bryan Police Department.
As of Nov. 30, die CSPD has reported 2,060 auto collisions in 1997.
CSPD has reported 242 major accidents and 1,269 minor acci
dents this year.
The CSPD does not keep records of specific collision locations,
but Lt. Scott McCollum said a majority of the accidents occur on
or near Texas Avenue.
“The sheer volume of vehicles traveling through that area presents
numerous opportunities for accidents to occur,” he said.
McCollum said the CSPD have “tracer,” or heavily patrolled areas at
four different intersections along Texas Avenue.
Please see Accident on Page 7.
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The intersection of University Drive and Texas Avenue is a “tracer” area, which is heavily patrolled by the College Station Police
Department. It is one of four intersections targeted by the CSPD to prevent motorists from breaking the speed limits.
ESTTIME
CLASS TIME
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MWF 8 - 8:50 a.m.
2:30 - 2:30 p.m.
TR 9:35 -10:50 a.m.
■5 p.m.
TR 11:10 -12:25 p.m.
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MWF 9:10-10 a.m.
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TR 8 - 9:15 a.m.
30 - 5:30 p.m.
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CLASS TIME
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MWF 10:20-11:10 a.m.
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MWF 3-3:50 p.m.
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TR 3:55 - 5:10 p.m.
ISO - 5:30 p.m.
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Texas Avenue project confounds motorists
TxDot aims to preserve access during expansion
^MTIME
10 a.m.
| 0:30 ■ 12:30 p.m.
•3 p.m.
:30 • 5:30 p.m.
CLASS TIME
TR 12:45-2 p.m.
MWF 11:30 -12:20 p.m.
TR 2:20 - 3:35 p.m.
TR 5:30 - 6:45 p.m.
By Amanda Smith
Staff writer
Construction is a part of life for peo
ple who work and travel along South
Texas Avenue in College Station. Ex
panding Texas Avenue from two to
three lanes has been one of the con-
struction projects by the Texas Depart
ment ofTransportadon (TxDOT) in the
Bryan-College Station area.
Catherine Hejl, an assistant engi
neer for TxDOT in the Brazos Valley,
said TxDOT is responsible for man
aging projects but the construction
firm is responsible for the completion
and construction of the project.
“Our main responsibility at TxDOT
is that we oversee a project,” Hejl said.
“We really do not control the con
struction. The construction company
operates on their schedule.”
However, TxDOT may charge the
construction company liquidated
damages for the time taken that ex
tends beyond the expected comple
tion date of a project.
Hejl said TxDOT has remained on
schedule with the construction on
Texas Avenue, which is expected to be
completed in the Spring 1998.
She said TxDOT has tried to keep
as many lanes open as possible dur
ing the construction, which began in
February 1996.
“We try to pinpoint times to work
on some construction,” Hejl said.
“But much of the construction work
is temperature and moisture con
trolled. We cannot do much of the
construction when the roads are wet.
But we have to keep lanes open and
to maintain access to businesses.”
Diana Worden, a sophomore gen
eral studies major, said the construc
tion on Texas Avenue has improved
since she came to A&M in Fall 1996.
“The construction has definitely
gotten better, because they have
made the road better,” Worden said.
“They have widened lanes. It is going
to give us more room [once the con
struction is complete].”
Businesses on Texas Avenue began
to meet in late September and early
October to discuss solutions to the
construction that had reduced traffic
flow on Texas Avenue.
Anthony Abraham, a general man
ager of Ladies & Lords Bridal & Tuxe
do, said the shop has been affected by
the Texas Avenue construction.
“Our location and visibility is very
important to us,” Abraham said. “We
use our windows to display our prod
ucts to potential customers. The con
struction on Texas Avenue has been a
great inconvenience for the cus
tomers. Our parking lot was torn up
from May to September (1997) as a
result of the construction.”
Abraham said safety along Texas
Avenue was a concern of the busi
nesses.
“Safetyhas been a major issue,” he
said. “We have seen accidents occur
because of people’s uncertainty.
There had been a lack of proper
markings. The lanes change daily.”
Hejl said TxDOT has made accom
modations to inform businesses of
weekly changes in construction. Each
Friday, TxDOT sends faxes to busi
nesses about the construction pro
jects for the next week.
Hejl said another restraint thatTx-
DOT faces is the availability of mate
rials and crews for construction. She
said that working at night presents
greater danger for the construction
crews.
“It is not safe,” Hejl said. “A lot of
people were wanting night work in
earlier stages of construction. Some
materials and work crews are not
available to work at night.”
Additional projects include the
construction on George Bush Drive
that involves widening the road to in
clude four lanes and adding a medi
an, curb and gutter. The project costs
$4.5 million, comparable to the $5
million construction project onTexas
Avenue.
TxDOT is working to repair the
pavement and complete additional
surface treatment on Texas Avenue.
Hejl said repavement projects are
generally routine and must be com
pleted to keep the roads safe. She said
heavy traffic on roads such as Texas
Avenue increases the need for con
struction.
Additional work along Texas Av
enue (Highway 6) includes adding
street lights, traffic signals and land
scaping. Along Highway 21, TxDOT is
resurfacing the pavements in two
construction projects that cost $2.2
million.
"Safety has been a
major issue.
We have seen
accidents occur
because of people's
uncertainty."
Anthony Abraham
local shop manager
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See Page 3
When it comes to safe driving, prevention is the key
Police use speed monitors to detour
potential wrecks on state highways
By James Francis
Staff writer
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jws service.
From head-on collisions to hit-and-run ac
cidents to the smallest fender bender, Texas dri
vers have endured a wide variety of traffic inci
dents this year.
Although these incidents may occur unex
pectedly, traffic officials say there are different
ways to prevent accidents and safeguard dri
ving on Texas highways.
Paul Sturrock, public information officer for
the Department of Transportation Bryan Dis
trict, said that people rushing to get somewhere
causes unnecessary accidents.
“One thing that really helps is giving your
self enough time to get to your destination
without having to be in a hurry,” he said.
Sturrock said that another factor in traffic
accidents involves speed limits. After coordi
nated traffic studies of highways are complete,
usually the speed limit for a highway or road is
set at the 85th percentile of the study.
He said this depends on elements of roads,
such as curves, the number of driveways and
crash histories at given locations.
“A lot of the counties are complaining about
the new speed limits, complaining that 70 mph
is too fast for farm roads,” he said.
Sturrock said legislation that was recently
passed states that, “speed limits can be reduced
on farm market and ranch market roads with
pavement widths of 20 feet or less, when the
county commissioners court and a public hear
ing is held.”
Sturrock said electronic speed monitors,
Speed Monitoring Awareness Radar Trailer
(S.M.A.R.T.), have been placed on the sides of
roads to help control speeding. He said the cost
for utilizing the monitors was about $15,000,
and it was funded by Bryan and College Station.
The monitors are used in communities
when members of the neighborhood request
speed enforcement, Sturrock said. The moni
tors take the place of police officers.
Since the implementation in April 1997, Stur
rock said the monitors have saved 13,000 hours
in police work and $27,000 in personal costs.
He said other aspects that contribute to traf
fic accidents involve darkness, when drivers be
come sleepy and do not see other drivers in on
coming lanes; motorists who go off the
shoulder, attempt to get back onto the highway
and overcorrect instead of gradually easing
back onto the road or stopping.
Sturrock said that despite the factors of traf
fic incidents, people never lose the “It can’t hap
pen to me” mentality.
“Perhaps one of the reasons is they’ve been
lucky so far and haven’t had an incident to teach
them the value of these precautions,” he said. “If
you look at statistics, there are tens of thousands
of accidents a year; you’re only a couple of feet
away from disaster, whether it’s going off the
road or someone swerving into your lane.”
With the holiday season approaching, Stur
rock said people should be especially careful
when driving onTexas highways.
“There will be more traffic probably be
tween cities,” he said. “Days preceding and fol
lowing holidays are usually some of the worst
traffic seen all year, but if you stay calm and
courteous, you should make it ok.”
Tom Williams, director of Parking, Traffic and
Transportation Services, said people driving on
campus have some of the same traffic problems
as those who travel on major highways.
“The main concern is we’re not a major
highway, so the speed limit is slower,” he
said. “Drivers must watch for buses, pedes
trians and bicyclists.”
As with driving onTexas highways, Williams
said speed is a primary concern, but drivers
should try to be alert, aware and follow the rules
of the road.
Williams said that with a campus enrollment
as large as Texas ASM’s, one large difficulty in dri
ving on campus involves pedestrians.
“Pedestrians tend to not be aware that there
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are vehicles on the street,” he said. “They
should try to get the driver’s eye contact before
crossing, because some drivers don’t stop.”
Although accidents on campus may not
compare to 10-car pileups on interstate high
ways, Williams said A&M has its share of inci
dents.
“We have a lot of accidents in our parking
lots,” he said. “University Police deal with the
accidents on campus, but normally they are
just fender benders.”
In preventing traffic accidents, Sturrock
said people always should be ready for the
unexpected.
“You could be the best driver in the world,
but assume the worst is going to happen, be
ready for it and you might live longer.”