When an Intersection Becomes a Cemetery
The intersection at Grissom Road and Old Grissom Road, which has been the site of numerous fatal collisions in San Antonio. (Source: Channel 4 News.)
On May 12, 2023, two cars collided at the intersection of two similarly named streets: Grissom Road and Old Grissom Road. Both parties left the scene shaken, yet uninjured, a rarity for the location, which moonlights as a memorial for the many lives lost making the same moves these two drivers did in 2023.
Strong Towns will be examining this intersection and this crash in an upcoming Crash Analysis Studio. Register here.
Months before the collision, the San Antonio Public Works department conducted a traffic study, concluding that the intersection didn’t warrant a traffic light. “Area residents want to know how many accidents it takes to get one,” Channel 4 News wrote back in May. The area is lined with memorials and it is locally regarded as a “troublesome” intersection. On the Channel 4 piece, a commenter familiar with the area added: “How sad. This is a very scary intersection. Saving ONE life is worth the traffic light. How much money was spent on the studies? Probably more than what the actual traffic light would have cost.”
In fact, in August 2022, nearly a year before the non-fatal collision, locals mourned the death of a woman trying to make the same turn countless drivers do. "It's not the first time, unfortunately, that somebody has died here," remarked Eric Maldonado, a resident of the area, after that crash.
In the last three years alone, the intersection has seen more than 20 crashes, several of them fatal. The intersection’s death toll has renewed Maldonado’s calls for the city to do something, anything, to make it safer. "Not one more person should be dying at that intersection,” he told Kens5 News.
That August, Maldonado urged the District 6 Councilmember Melissa Cabello Havrda to initiate a traffic study, to which he was told the office already requested a traffic light. In his email, he wrote: “drivers have a hard time turning left from Old Grissom Road to Grissom Road. Please try to initiate a traffic study to reduce the number of accidents and fatalities at this intersection.”
When Kens5 News reached out to Cabello Havrda as well as the public works department in May 2023, the latter initially claimed that the corridor did not meet the traffic requirements to install a traffic signal. The department later rescinded that claim, adding:
TxDOT sets minimum requirements (or thresholds) for traffic volume and “correctible” crashes to determine if a traffic signal is warranted. Correctible crashes are those that can be potentially prevented with the installation of a traffic signal. The traffic data shows that this intersection does not meet the threshold for traffic volume but that it does meet the crash threshold. When only one threshold is met, it becomes an engineering decision on how to proceed.
Public Works added that the cost for a traffic light would be around $500,000, with nearly a fifth of that covered by Cabello Havrda budget. For many, the promise that a traffic light was on the way was good news. "Hopefully that [traffic light] will be what stops these deaths from occurring," Cabello Havrda told Kens5 News.
Yet, funding and installing a traffic light is a lengthy process. As of February 2024, locals are still waiting for one, praying the intersection doesn’t become yet another memorial in the meantime.
Asia (pronounced “ah-sha”) Mieleszko serves as a Staff Writer for Strong Towns. A dilettante urbanist since adolescence, she's excited to convert a lifetime of ad-hoc volunteerism into a career. Her unconventional background includes directing a Ukrainian folk choir, pioneering synaesthetic performances, photographing festivals, designing websites, teaching, and ghostwriting. She can be found wherever Wi-Fi is reliable, typically along Amtrak's Northeast Corridor.