HIGHWAY 290-FM 1155 INTERSECTION A CONTINUED CONCERN
The intersection of Highway 290 and FM 1155 in Chappell Hill continues to be a cause for concern of local residents and public safety officials.
For years, the intersection has been the site of many accidents, some serious or even fatal, leaving many to wonder what can be done to ensure the well-being of drivers.
DPS Sergeant Justin Ruiz says while all intersections are dangerous, he believes a major factor in crashes at this location is drivers not paying attention behind the wheel.
Local law enforcement officials such as Sgt. Ruiz and Washington County Precinct 2 Constable Trey Holleway III have received many comments from concerned citizens about the safety of the intersection. Many of those citizens are frustrated with how many drivers seem to ignore the red light or the drop to a 60 mile per hour speed limit 1 mile before the light on either side of the highway.
Bob Colwell, Public Information Officer for TxDOT’s Bryan District, says there are 25,965 vehicles on average per day that drive on Highway 290 in the area of FM 1155. Meanwhile, there are 1,662 vehicles per day that drive on the north side of FM 1155 and 567 vehicles on the south side.
According to a crash report obtained from TxDOT, there have been three crashes at the intersection so far this year. Two of those accidents, including one in April involving an 18-wheeler and five other vehicles, involved a driver who either disregarded the light, turned on red or failed to yield right of way. The crash in April damaged the light and led to TxDOT having to replace it in August.
The intersection is a particular concern for Chappell Hill resident Hiram Dunlap, who took it upon himself to see how often drivers run the stop light. Dunlap studied the light on seven different afternoons and evenings in August in 30-minute intervals. Through his testing, he found that no fewer than five drivers ran the red light in any 30-minute period, while as many as 15 did so in one interval. Dunlap wishes that law enforcement would give more attention to the light with additional patrol officers.
Sgt. Ruiz said local agencies will continue to partner to make the intersection as safe as possible, but noted that they can only do so much.
Similar to Sgt. Ruiz, Constable Holleway said his resources are limited as a one-person agency, but he and other constable departments have worked together on various traffic enforcement initiatives on highly traveled roads in the county, such as this intersection. He said he has been a part of many discussions with TxDOT regarding continued planning for the intersection, and that the agency is “well aware” of the community’s concerns.
Some of the enhancement measures implemented by TxDOT to improve driver awareness at the intersection include various warning devices, rumble strips, speed limit reductions, pavement improvements and modified light cycles.
Sgt. Ruiz and Constable Holleway encouraged anyone who remains worried about the intersection to continue to voice their concerns.
I think they should have dummy state trooper trucks parked at the 1 mile slow down and have longer intervals between light changes
I think they should do like on hwy 6 coming into hearne. They have a light and if it’s blinking the light is either red or about to be red so slow down. Wouldn’t be a bad idea.
You can thank the current president for an increase in accidents and your insurance rates due to the decrease in traffic enforcement throughout the state.
DPS Troopers have turned into a responsive agency since so many are deployed to the border protecting our state as best they can.
There are very few proactive traffic enforcement patrols taking place at this point, many times a week troopers are having to respond from out of county to accidents in Washington County due to no troopers on duty .
Elections have consequences.
An overpass should have been built years ago. That is the only place on 290 thats has a signal between houston and giddings
There is a traffic light at Westwood, on the west side of Brenham.
I agree Kevin
26,000 cars and trucks a day build an overpass or by pass. If you slow down the traffic it will just be more of the same problem.
FM577 and 36 North is pretty dangerous too.
My husband & I drove to Chappell hill on a Sunday a few weeks ago for lunch. Left restaurant & drive to light so we could head back to Brenham easier. As our light was green & we entered the intersection a black 4 door dually barreled through the intersection probably going 70 mph !! Had we not been paying attention he would have t boned us & I’m sure we would be dead !!! There needs to be every cautionary flashing light, rumble strips, dummy DPS vehicles anything everything they make to make people aware !!!
The light has no delay, one turns red and other turns green! Delay would help a little! Called Tx Dot several times about this and nothing done!!!
Agreed. And that’s a pretty simple fix, too.
Most of the caution lights in the county are 3-5 second caution that I have noticed WAY TO SHORT!! most lights you have to be expecting them to change as you come up to them just to be able to respond & stop in time much less not paying attention in a car,kwayne let alone a loaded truck at posted speeds Txdot really needs to increase these cycle times
60mph is still way too fast especially with the growth and new businesses along that stretch, Dollar General, Restaurants, etc. The speed limit should be dropped to about 40mph and enforced for about 3 miles east and west of the light, just like if you are driving through Giddings, etc. This is much cheaper than an overpass and will be much better for the businesses in Chappell Hill.
Oh yes exactly, let’s encumber the general public by unreasonably lowering speed limits and excessively enforcing them in order to drive business to the local economic incumbents when there’s a perfectly good alternative that also creates jobs and then speeds everybody up. When in doubt, always implement the most asinine California-like policies in Texas that you can think of until land values and excessive legislation make it impossible to build anything anywhere. We don’t need to pay any mind at all to the plight of those other people if they aren’t our people. As for our people, let them breathe fumes. BUILD, TXDOT, BUILD. Give us some overpasses.
haha! apparently you do not live in the area. Or maybe you haven’t driven thru Giddings or Somerville, and many others towns that have slowed speeds. It does work and could be much safer for drivers trying to get out on 290. Overpasses will hurt Chappell Hill as residents know it.
I think TxDot should put an overpass there. Chappell Hill is just in the way anyway
Why can’t they make a “flyover” thru all of Chappell Hill just like they did on the East side of Brenham?