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BY GORDON DICKSON
gdickson@star-telegram.com
LAKE WORTH - On a rainy day nearly four years ago, Azle resident Robert Spracklen was driving his pickup eastbound toward Lake Worth on Texas 199 when a westbound driver lost control of his vehicle and spun into Spracklen’s lane.
“He was already facing in reverse when he hit me. He jumped over that itty-bitty, two-inch-tall median and hit me broadside,” said Spracklen, 50, a maintenance manager for a large company who has been disabled since the March 10, 2012, crash. The collision on Texas 199, also known as Jacksboro Highway, left Spracklen with back and knee injuries that have required numerous surgeries.
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I DON’T WANT ANYONE ELSE TO GO THROUGH THIS. YOU’RE MAKING A NICE LIVING IN LIFE, AND ALL OF A SUDDEN ONE DAY YOU’RE NOT ABLE TO.
Robert Spracklen of Azle, disabled in crash on Texas 199
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Nonetheless, he was thrilled Tuesday to hear state officials discuss their plan to improve safety on 6 miles of the Texas 199 corridor, including construction of a taller median barrier to prevent head-on collisions in the same area where Spracklen was hurt.
“I don’t want anyone else to go through this,” he said. “You’re making a nice living in life, and all of a sudden one day you’re not able to.”
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$300 million - Estimated cost of improvements in the Texas 199 corridor through 2020
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The Texas Department of Transportation is committing to making a series of improvements to the area, which extends from Farm Road 1886 (also known as Confederate Park Road) near Azle south to Loop 820, where Lake Worth meets Sansom Park and Fort Worth, an official said.
During the spring, the agency will install concrete median barriers west of the Lake Worth bridge to prevent head-on crashes, said Brian Barth, the transportation department’s Fort Worth district engineer. He said that work, as well as possible improvements in the median areas east of the bridge, will be covered from the agency’s routine maintenance funds.
Barth said he didn’t have a specific cost for the short-term work but thought it would be minimal — mainly limited to the cost of concrete needed for the barriers — because the agency can use its maintenance staff to fix the medians rather than pay a private contractor for labor.
Long-term fixes
Then, thanks to new funding sources in Texas, Barth said, the long-awaited completion of freeway lanes from Farm Road 1886 to Loop 820 will likely be built beginning in 2017 or 2018. That project is expected to cost roughly $90 million.
And a full redesign and reconstruction of the Texas 199/Northwest Loop 820 interchange could be built as soon as 2020. That project could cost $210 million, depending upon redesign costs and other factors, officials said.
Those projects have been on the drawing board but delayed for years because of the state’s lack of highway revenue, Barth said.
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BY GORDON DICKSON
gdickson@star-telegram.com
LAKE WORTH - On a rainy day nearly four years ago, Azle resident Robert Spracklen was driving his pickup eastbound toward Lake Worth on Texas 199 when a westbound driver lost control of his vehicle and spun into Spracklen’s lane.
“He was already facing in reverse when he hit me. He jumped over that itty-bitty, two-inch-tall median and hit me broadside,” said Spracklen, 50, a maintenance manager for a large company who has been disabled since the March 10, 2012, crash. The collision on Texas 199, also known as Jacksboro Highway, left Spracklen with back and knee injuries that have required numerous surgeries.
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I DON’T WANT ANYONE ELSE TO GO THROUGH THIS. YOU’RE MAKING A NICE LIVING IN LIFE, AND ALL OF A SUDDEN ONE DAY YOU’RE NOT ABLE TO.
Robert Spracklen of Azle, disabled in crash on Texas 199
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Nonetheless, he was thrilled Tuesday to hear state officials discuss their plan to improve safety on 6 miles of the Texas 199 corridor, including construction of a taller median barrier to prevent head-on collisions in the same area where Spracklen was hurt.
“I don’t want anyone else to go through this,” he said. “You’re making a nice living in life, and all of a sudden one day you’re not able to.”
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$300 million - Estimated cost of improvements in the Texas 199 corridor through 2020
-------------------------------------------
The Texas Department of Transportation is committing to making a series of improvements to the area, which extends from Farm Road 1886 (also known as Confederate Park Road) near Azle south to Loop 820, where Lake Worth meets Sansom Park and Fort Worth, an official said.
During the spring, the agency will install concrete median barriers west of the Lake Worth bridge to prevent head-on crashes, said Brian Barth, the transportation department’s Fort Worth district engineer. He said that work, as well as possible improvements in the median areas east of the bridge, will be covered from the agency’s routine maintenance funds.
Barth said he didn’t have a specific cost for the short-term work but thought it would be minimal — mainly limited to the cost of concrete needed for the barriers — because the agency can use its maintenance staff to fix the medians rather than pay a private contractor for labor.
Long-term fixes
Then, thanks to new funding sources in Texas, Barth said, the long-awaited completion of freeway lanes from Farm Road 1886 to Loop 820 will likely be built beginning in 2017 or 2018. That project is expected to cost roughly $90 million.
And a full redesign and reconstruction of the Texas 199/Northwest Loop 820 interchange could be built as soon as 2020. That project could cost $210 million, depending upon redesign costs and other factors, officials said.
Those projects have been on the drawing board but delayed for years because of the state’s lack of highway revenue, Barth said.
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THIS AREA RIGHT HERE WE CALL THE ‘DEATH ZONE.’ IT HAS BEEN INFAMOUS FOR ACCIDENTS, FOR MANY DECADES.
Micheal Dallas, Scenic Shores Neighborhood Association president
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The new funds will come from a combination of sources, said state Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, who attended a press conference along Texas 199 on Tuesday to discuss the plans. Geren faces challenger and family friend Bo French in the March 1 Republican primary.
The sources include Proposition 1, which was approved by voters statewide in November 2014 and allows for a portion of revenue from oil and gas activities to go toward road work, as well as Proposition 7, approved by statewide voters a year later that allows for a portion of general sales tax and motor vehicle sales tax revenues to go to highways, Geren said.
And finally, some money likely will come from the Legislature ending its longstanding practice of diverting highway funds to other state programs. The ending of diversions is expected to bring in $1.3 billion. Earlier this month, officials announced that some of that money would be used to improve Texas 199 just south of Azle.
For residents who live a few miles south of Azle, in the Lake Worth area, the improvements can’t come soon enough.
“This area right here we call the ‘death zone,’ said Michael Dallas, president of the Scenic Shores Neighborhood Association, which represents many residential areas along the corridor. “It has been infamous for accidents for many decades.”
At least four serious accidents have occurred during the past two months, Dallas said.
He said that in addition to the dangers at the Lake Worth bridge, many accidents occur at the intersection of Texas 199 and Surfside Drive, less than a mile to the north.
Gordon Dickson: 817-390-7796, @gdickson
Micheal Dallas, Scenic Shores Neighborhood Association president
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The new funds will come from a combination of sources, said state Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, who attended a press conference along Texas 199 on Tuesday to discuss the plans. Geren faces challenger and family friend Bo French in the March 1 Republican primary.
The sources include Proposition 1, which was approved by voters statewide in November 2014 and allows for a portion of revenue from oil and gas activities to go toward road work, as well as Proposition 7, approved by statewide voters a year later that allows for a portion of general sales tax and motor vehicle sales tax revenues to go to highways, Geren said.
And finally, some money likely will come from the Legislature ending its longstanding practice of diverting highway funds to other state programs. The ending of diversions is expected to bring in $1.3 billion. Earlier this month, officials announced that some of that money would be used to improve Texas 199 just south of Azle.
For residents who live a few miles south of Azle, in the Lake Worth area, the improvements can’t come soon enough.
“This area right here we call the ‘death zone,’ said Michael Dallas, president of the Scenic Shores Neighborhood Association, which represents many residential areas along the corridor. “It has been infamous for accidents for many decades.”
At least four serious accidents have occurred during the past two months, Dallas said.
He said that in addition to the dangers at the Lake Worth bridge, many accidents occur at the intersection of Texas 199 and Surfside Drive, less than a mile to the north.
Gordon Dickson: 817-390-7796, @gdickson
