McLennan County has faced some staggering numbers when it comes to traffic accidents.
Between 2014 and 2023, the county had at least 331 traffic-related fatalities and 1,530 serious injuries, according to the Waco Metropolitan Planning Organization, which is commonly referred to as “MPO” and works with local governments to improve transportation infrastructure.
Some of those deaths were caused by reckless driving, but Waco MPO chair Mukesh Kumar said that many others were simply the result of poor road and intersection design.
Road design is exactly what Kumar and his MPO colleagues want to tackle through a new project titled “Six to Fix.” The organization identified six particularly risky roads and intersections in the greater Waco area where low-cost fixes could have big payoffs in safety.
The “fixes” will only last for 16 months after their November installation, Kumar says, because they are treating these as design experiments, in which they’ll gather data that could lead to further changes to improve safety for all road users — drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.
The ones that work best at improving traffic safety will “inform future projects across the county,” Kumar said. Community outreach engagement is planned for the duration of the trial to gauge how residents perceive the fixes.
A $1.2 million federal grant is funding the effort along with a 20% local match.
The “fixes” could include pedestrian islands that provide refuge for those on foot crossing wide streets, less-chaotic turn lanes, improved signage and Tokyo-inspired “scramble crosswalks.”
The exact design interventions will be solidified in September, but Kumar offered The Waco Bridge some hints at what makeovers might look in each location.
1: La Salle Avenue Corridor
The challenge: The La Salle Avenue Corridor is a wide, high-speed road “accommodating an expanding Baylor University, established businesses and several older neighborhoods,” Kumar said. The corridor has many varied users and therefore many places for cars, pedestrians and cyclists to come into conflict where they meet.
Possible changes: The main goal is to make crossing La Salle easier and less risky, Kumar said. One part of the safety equation is the speed of cars passing through, which could be moderated with slightly narrower lanes or “bulb outs” that reduce cornering speeds, he added. Another potential experiment is to protect pedestrians crossing the road with pedestrian islands.
2: Hewitt Drive
The challenge: Residents submitted more safety complaints about Hewitt Drive than any other corridor surveyed by the Waco MPO in 2024. It’s the county’s most congested stretch of road, Kumar said, and that traffic encounters as many as 100 Midway Middle School and Midway High School students crossing Hewitt Drive on foot during peak hours. “Our goal here is to keep children safe.”
Possible changes: Kumar said the planning group is targeting intersections by Midway Middle School to make student pedestrian crossings safer without adding to the road’s congestion issues. During the experimentation phase, that could look like changes to street striping and a “scramble crosswalk” that briefly allows pedestrians to cross intersections in any direction, including diagonally. In the longer term — and with more funding — it could mean changes to signal timing during the beginning and end of the school day and “embedded lights in the roadway” to catch drivers’ attention.
3: South Valley Mills Drive & Dutton Avenue Intersection
The challenge: This intersection might as well be a moat, said city of Waco urban planner Enrique Perez, an avid cyclist. “I rarely ever cross Valley Mills [on a bike].” At nine lanes, including a turn lane, it’s too wide to cross in a single stoplight cycle for those with disabilities, Kumar added. The intersection is further complicated by the Harmony School of Innovation Waco, a charter high school located where the two roads meet.
Possible changes: A pedestrian island is being strongly considered to make it safer to cross the intersection, Kumar said. So is a “lane diet” to slim down the road to a more manageable size as well as orange cones to test out different ways for Harmony students and parents to enter the campus parking lot. A raised crosswalk is on the table, too.
4: Washington Avenue Parklet
Possible change: The MPO will construct a micro-park (also known as a “parklet”) that will replace a parking spot in front of Be Kind Coffee. Rather than responding to a problem, Kumar said the parklet will double down on prior investments made on Washington Avenue that changed it from a one-way, four-lane road to a two-way, two-lane road with bike lanes on either side. The parklet will be monitored to see if it further reduces speeds on the road and activates the sidewalk frontage for the coffee shop at 1534 Washington Avenue.
5: Loop 340 (Bellmead)
The challenge: Kumar said Loop 340 is the “biggest head scratcher” of the six projects. “Defining the problem isn’t the hardest part here.” The problem, he explained, is that the Loop links to Interstate 35 but has also seen plenty of on-street business growth. Cars exit those businesses onto a fast, frenetic road with an equally vexing center turn lane that sends cars through multiple opposing lanes, to say nothing of spontaneous U-turns.
Possible changes: “We’re going to need to spend a lot of hours thinking through this one,” Kumar said. That doesn’t mean the planning group doesn’t have ideas. Blocking off parts of the center turn lane could make left-turning cars behave more predictable by shepherding them across oncoming traffic at specified areas.
6: Loop 340 / U.S. Highway 77 cloverleaf
The challenge: This location, particularly where cars enter and exit the cloverleaf, sees an outsized number of crashes and fender benders, Kumar said. The city of Robinson highlighted the segment as a problem area during conversations with the Waco MPO. The segment of Loop 340 directly south of the cloverleaf also has residential neighborhood entrances that are set at an angle, creating more traffic risks.
Possible changes: To reduce collisions at the Highway 77 cloverleaf, the Waco MPO is exploring ways to space cars out so they don’t bump into one another as they navigate the tricky curve on and off the highway. As with the Bellmead section of Loop 340, the MPO is looking at restricting some left-turn lane use by the neighborhoods south of the interchange to reduce collisions and cognitive strain on drivers.
