Reducing Serious Accidents by Half
From 2014 to 2018, more than 200 serious accidents occurred on US 183 and the frontage road system that runs parallel through the northern section of SH 130.
Safety is a top priority for SH 130 Concession Co., and we are determined to lower the annual number of serious accidents — by half.
In December, we told you about the improvements that we had already made to make these roads safer. We also told you about the first Safety Summit that we convened with representatives of public safety agencies and public officials from along the frontage road system to discuss ways in which we could collaborate to improve safety even more.
As promised, we recently reconvened this same group for a second Safety Summit where we unveiled the proposed US 183 and Frontage Road System Strategic Highway Safety Plan.
The overarching goal of the plan is cut the number of roadway crashes that result in fatalities and serious injuries by 50 percent over the next two years.
To accomplish this, we’ve established a series of more focused goals and supporting strategies organized around what we call the Three E’s of Roadway Safety: Engineering, Enforcement and Education.
Engineering
Goal: Make improvements to the roadway and immediate surroundings that improve driver awareness of intersections, intersection visibility and sight distance.
SH 130 has already made many improvements including the installation of new rumble strips and larger stop signs and adjusting the flashing lights at intersections from synchronized to alternating. We continue to investigate additional upgrades that might improve safety, including changing the location of our own office driveway and installing channelized curbing at problem intersections to prevent drivers from turning in the wrong direction.
Enforcement
Goal: Support the enforcement of laws regarding driving while intoxicated, speed limits and distracted driving.
From sharing information on speeding hotspots to employing speed trailers to inform the traveling public of their rate of speed, SH 130 Concession Co. will do what we can to help public safety agencies make the most of their limited resources.
Education
Goal: Collaborate with public safety agencies to better educate the public on safe driving practices.
Look for more safety reminders on our social media channels about the dangers of impaired and distracted driving. We also aim to help promote the use of bi-lingual educational safety campaigns to reach more drivers.
Collaborative effort
SH 130 Concession Co. sincerely appreciates all of the agencies and officials who continue to volunteer their time to share information and recommendations on improving safety along the roadways that we operate and manage.
This includes elected officials from Caldwell County, the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office, the Chisholm Trail Fire Department, the HNTB engineering firm, the Lockhart Police Department, the Mustang Ridge Police Department, the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, The Texas Department of Public Safety, SAM-CS Construction Services, and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).
We appreciate all that public safety agencies and local officials are already doing to keep drivers safe, and we look forward to working with them in years to come to enhance those efforts.
Reducing the annual number of serious accidents by half in just two years is an ambitious goal, and one that we cannot achieve alone. Please stay alert and drive safely.
Mike Pillsbury is the Chief Operating Officer for SH 130 Concession Company.
Mike Pillsbury, SH 130 Concession Company COO