Advocacy & Safety - Death on my Route

I constantly have complained about this intersection to the town. Unfortunately is it the best option for crossing 121 unless you go against traffic for 2 miles to go the wrong way through a one way underpass. I have seen a few cyclists do that and almost hit me head on when the go around trying not to get hit by the car who is passing me.
Coming from Freeport you're coming off a 2 lane 45mph road. It intersects with a 2 land 50mph+ service road with a stop sign. You cross that and there is a 2 lane 4 car deep wait at a red light to cross the 6 lane highway and then another stop to a 2 lane service road. I've seen alot of people blow the first stop sign or try to go when the cars still have a red. I think I may file an open records on this accident to get more info.

Cyclist Killed in Grapevine crash (http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa070722_wz_cyclecrash.9fffaa7a.html)


WFAA-TV GRAPEVINE — A Coppell man was killed Sunday afternoon when his bicycle collided with a car in Grapevine.

Police said Gregory Scott Dean, 47, was attempting to cross Highway 121 at Freeport Parkway shortly after noon when he was struck.

Dean was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, where he was later pronounced dead.

The driver of the car, a 20-year-old woman from Flower Mound, wasn't hurt.

The cause of the fatal crash remained under investigation.

I've sent a few notes with the situation to people in the Grapevine Government. Unfortunately they cant' do anything about the crossing of 121.
However there is a wide shoulder on the service road and if you take a sideroad it'll take you within 100 yards or an underpass. Current problem is the underpass is one way but it is 3 cars wide with only 1 lane It has huge shoulders on both sides. I suggested perhaps they should look into stripping a two way bike lane and put up appropriate signs.
Does anyone here have any experience, successfuly or not, in getting an intersection changed before/after a death due to it being a dangerous intersection?

I've sent a few notes with the situation to people in the Grapevine Government. Unfortunately they cant' do anything about the crossing of 121.
However there is a wide shoulder on the service road and if you take a sideroad it'll take you within 100 yards or an underpass. Current problem is the underpass is one way but it is 3 cars wide with only 1 lane It has huge shoulders on both sides. I suggested perhaps they should look into stripping a two way bike lane and put up appropriate signs.
Does anyone here have any experience, successfuly or not, in getting an intersection changed before/after a death due to it being a dangerous intersection?

Well, I would certainly start gathering numbers, then call whatever investigative reporting section of the news that you have in the area. I would push for more than striping and signs, though. Push for a separate curbed section for bikes. Maybe then, you'll at least get the striping and signs. At least you have realistic solutions, which would probably be much more appreciated in a government official's ears.

I've seen alot of people blow the first stop sign or try to go when the cars still have a red.

If this is the cause of the issues, don't expect much sympathy from the police.

I can't remember if it was you who mentioned this intersection before (the setup sounds familiar) but whoever did bring it up said that their issue was just impatient motorists crossing the road when the light changed. Doesn't sound like much of a special problem needing special attention to me.

This particular intersection is an at grade crossing of a major state highway. this intersection will likely become an over/underpass in the future as the road is planned to become a toll road. Until then, you have 70+ mph traffic having to stop for a traffic light. I expect that running the red light is a common problem and, according to a post on another forum, may have been the cause of the crash.

Because this is a state highway, the local government almost certainly has no authority to make any changes, including adding a bike lane to the wrong way underpass as suggested by the OP. Any accommodation to cyclists probably needs to be worked through TXDOT. Perhaps the OP could get the Texas Bike Coalition involved to push for creating a bike lane using the suggested underpass. This seems like something they might take up.

Until then, the best thing for cyclists using this intersection is to hesitate a few additional seconds and make sure that cross traffic is actually stopping before entering the intersection.

If the local government can do nothing, perhaps the state government can.