SAN ANTONIO – Speed bumps, fewer lanes, more traffic lights and added patrols are possible changes that could be made to a stretch of Commercial Avenue on the South Side, which many say is a known road for speeding and racing.
District 3 Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran says enough is enough.
“The issue of drag racing, car club racing, is going to be coming to a public safety committee meeting in March,” she said.
Viagran said she’s paying special attention to the stretch of Commercial Avenue near Sunglo Drive. Two people were sent to the hospital, and 23-year-old John Gavin Mendoza, a passenger in a truck investigators say was speeding, died after a wreck in that area on Monday.
Speeding vehicles is an issue Viagran says has been plaguing the area for years now and keeping people up at night, too.
Viagran said she’s planning to schedule traffic studies and a time when community members can offer suggestions on what can be done to slow vehicles down.
“Is it making the road from four lanes, two lanes on each side, to just one lane on each side with the center turn lane? Is it putting in another traffic light on the street somewhere? Is it, you know, making a median or a Z crossing in the middle,” Viagran questioned.
Family members tell KSAT that, though Mendoza drove Ford Mustang, he was never one to race against others. With other innocent lives like his at risk, the need for solutions is urgent.
Vigaran said depending on the chosen course of action following community input and traffic evaluations, there could be physical changes to this stretch of Commercial Avenue as early as this summer.