Blind corners in Heritage

#1

How many times have you been biking, driving, or crossing the street on foot in our neighborhood and been unable to see around a corner to know if a car was coming? This happens to me a lot, and I wanted to see if there was interest in contacting the city for a solution. I took the picture below as I was biking up Salado on my way back from Texas French Bread, but there are several intersections like this in Heritage. I watched a car in front of me inch out into 30th Street only to almost be sideswiped by a car coming down 30th Street. There was no way either car could see the other.

The problem is worst at T intersections on narrow streets like 30th and 31st where there is only enough room for one car in the road (essentially a one-lane street despite being two-way). I pasted a map below where I circled the intersections that I think are the worst. It seems this could be easily remedied by putting white stripes around the intersections to demarcate where parking should end, leaving enough space around the intersection to have a little visibility. (In the photo the black Jeep would not be able to park there and perhaps the white sedan too.)

Does anyone else think this is worth pursuing? Are there any downsides I’m not anticipating, other than a handful of parking spaces removed near the stop signs?

John

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Heritage problem intersections
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#2

sofia martinez oddfriday@gmail.com
Sun, Sep 9, 7:28 PM (1 day ago)
to noreply

This has been on my mind as well. I live on the corner of 30th and Pearl, and sometimes it’s almost impossible to pull onto 30th. When there are cars parked on 30th touching Pearl street on both the west and east side, plus a car parked on 30th across from where Pearl meets it, it is physically difficult to maneuver a car around the turn, even when the blind spot issue isn’t considered.

Legally speaking, it’s forbidden to park within 30 feet of a stop sign (or yield sign). I think asking for some kind of marking would be great. In other neighborhoods I’ve seen red curbs at the stop signs, or even no parking signs at every intersection.

I’m happy to help with this if anyone has a suggestion on how to proceed.

#3

Thanks for responding Sofia. I’m happy to contact the city on behalf of the neighborhood and ask if they can look into this.

The city was responsive a few years ago when I called them about cars pulling into 32nd from side streets like King Street, mistakenly assuming the intersections were four way stops. The city came out and painted bold stop lines. Perhaps they could paint lines at the stop signs indicating the legal distance one can park from the sign. In any case the traffic engineer was genuinely interested in ensuring the problem was resolved.

I’ll call the city tomorrow.

Thanks,
John

#4

I live in Fountain Terrace which is pretty much surrounded by those red circles. I understand students and my fellow UT staffers using the streets to park and avoid the cost of the parking permit and the hunt for a space. Unfortunately, that is resulting in crowded streets for us and a bunch of people who are speeding because they’re LATE!!! I especially find this true leaving for work in the morning. People who come barreling up 30th to avoid the lights on 29th are generally coming along at a pretty good clip.

I don’t think that jeep is parked at all legally in the photo above. The white Corolla nearly got taken out by a garbage truck two weeks ago. The truck got itself in a weird angle and part of the truck was just barely skimming over the hood of the Toyota. And it doesn’t help to find multiple commercial vehicles from the businesses on 29th St. parked there either.

I like the idea of painted curbs to indicate where street parking ends. I’m not sure that street parking should be allowed on the north side of 31st between Guadalupe and King St. There are only about two spots big enough for a car; everywhere else you’re blocking a drive from a house or condo on 31-1/2 St. Same for Rio Grande between 29th & 30th. Pick a side, any side, but there is no room for cars on both sides.

Gayle

#5

FYI I contacted the city and they have forwarded our request to the traffic engineer for our area. I’ll post an update when I hear back. And I’ll follow up with them if I don’t! :slight_smile: