Traffic and Safety

County Judge Agrees -- "969 Is a Deathtrap."

Diana Schulze
Area Engineer
Texas Department of Transportation
1701 North Interstate HWY 35,
Austin, TX 78753

Dear Ms. Schulze:

We wanted to updated you on what has happened on our stretch of FM 969 since we spoke to the Bastrop County Commissioners Court three weeks ago and you indicated a speed study would get underway as requested. 

Tragically, and without a single opportunity for public input, we have witnessed our beloved Wilbarger Bend sacrificed for an industrial complex of mining, tunneling and manufacturing. Meanwhile, no significant road improvements have been made along our stretch to accommodate this huge, unplanned influx in 18-wheelers.

At the commissioners meeting, County Judge Gregory Klaus agreed that this road has become a “deathtrap.” We believe more aggressive and immediate action is warranted. The safety conditions on FM 969 in Bastrop County have deteriorated so rapidly and with no planned improvements in sight, that we are asking our state representatives and officials for a moratorium on all new Aggregate Production Operations (APO) permits from TCEQ and related TXDOT driveway permits for this state road. We will ask that this moratorium remain in place until major safety improvements are completed.

Justifications for this request include:

TXDOT CRIS data show four separate accidents involving a total of four fatalities in December 2022 and January 2023 alone. That is more fatalities in two months than for the previous 10 years (see CRIS chart #1 below). 

The number of accidents involving commercial trucks has steadily risen and is on track to far exceed last year (see CRIS chart #2 below).

The 900-acre Tex Mix APO in Wilbarger Bend has now begun operation with two access locations on FM 969. The number of trucks entering and exiting these unmarked access driveways will grow exponentially when more borrow pits are permitted.

The Tex Mix APO at 535 FM 969 has added a long-term lease for Whittlesey Landscape, putting additional truck traffic on its two access locations on FM 969.

Travis Materials has begun site work for a second APO operation across from Wilbarger Bend Road. We are told it has signed a sand and gravel mining lease for hundreds of acres on that side of 969, including the current Barton Hill Farm agro-tourism location along the Colorado River.

This two-mile stretch — from the Utley Bridge to Howard Lane — will soon have three commercial truck operations (including King Ranch Turf). The Colorado River RV Park, Mere’s Reserve Event Venue, and a planned RV Park at Howard Lane will continue to increase traffic entering and exiting this hilly and winding stretch, with a 65 mph speed limit no less!

Despite this rapid growth and accelerating accident rate, TXDOT has no immediate plans to restore our safety along this stretch. It has completed extensive work adding a turning lane and widening shoulders at the new Alamo APO where no residents live within a half mile in either direction. It is now working on the dangerous curve at the western end of 969. Based on accident data and the negative impact of these new APO operations coming to Wilbarger Bend, we argue that similar investments are long overdue here, as well.


Not only are there no warning signs, turning lanes or yellow warning lights, TXDOT apparently has determined that none of these commercial operations require acceleration and turn lanes, including Space X and the Boring Company farther up the Bend on FM 1209 (See KeepBastropBoring.com).  This is unacceptable. So is the fact that we have no turning lanes for Howard Lane and Wilbarger Bend Road. We now have upward of 50 or more residential and business owners in and long these two roads whose lives are constantly imperiled by reckless and impatient drivers speeding around us on narrow shoulders when we turn against traffic off 969. Many of us have narrowly avoided being back-ended by speeding and distracted 18-wheelers that skid and swerve into the shoulders to avoid a collision.

Anyone living and working here has had to navigate this exponential increase in traffic in the past two years. Yet TXDOT CRIS accident reports still rely on old traffic data from 2019. Since that last count, we estimate total daily traffic on 969 has tripled or more, and that the percentage of commercial truck traffic far exceeds that rate of increase. 

Meanwhile, the number of serious accidents keep piling up, including another fatality at the Howard Road intersection in December (see photo below). We’ve had at least two more accidents on FM 969 in Bastrop County since our conversation. One, on Feb. 23, involved a commercial truck that turned around the curve near the western county line that is currently under construction. The second, on Feb. 25, involved two vehicles at the poorly designed intersection of FM 969 and 1209. Neither accident is included in the charts below.

On Monday, Feb. 27, a fleet of 18-wheelers hauling topsoil from the SpaceX facility onto Howard Lane created a back-up on 969 all the way to Wilbarger Bend Road. A school bus picking up students at Wilbarger bend Road had trouble getting to its stop there, putting everyone at risk. More than 100 truck loads were unloaded on private property at the end of Howard Lane in a single day, creating a nightmare situation for everyone up and down this section of FM 969. Tex Mix 18-wheelers continue hauling in and out on Wilbarger Bend Road, despite our request to the county to designate it a no-thru-truck road. The amount of dust stirred up on this gravel road has gotten so bad lately that it is reducing visibility at the intersection of 969.

Looking at truck-related accident data alone doesn’t tell the extent of their impact, directly and indirectly. This road has been in a constant state of disrepair for the past four years, especially the rutting along its curves. This added safety hazard is yet one more reason to implement this moratorium. TXDOT simply cannot maintain — much less engineer — the necessary safety improvements fast enough to make this a safe country road never designed for this influx of commercial traffic.

As you mentioned, our safety will not improve without better enforcement of existing traffic laws. We will be asking the county to substantially increase surveillance in this area and report back on its progress and impact.

We realize you, too, are overwhelmed with other over-capacity, under-developed state roads needing attention in fast-growing Bastrop County. This one, however, is rapidly becoming a liability for the state and the county that will have serious, long-term repercussions if these and other preventive steps aren’t immediately taken.

Sincerely,
Harold Connett
Co-Founder
Friends of the Land
www.friendoftheland.com
156 Howard Lane,
Bastrop, Texas.

Cc:
State Rep. Stan Gerdes
State Sen. Charles Schwertner
Bastrop County Judge Gregory Klaus
Bastrop County Commissioner Clara Beckett
Bastrop County Commissioner Mel Hamner
Bastrop City Mayor Connie Schroeder
Bastrop Interfaith
Keep Bastrop Boring