Tyler Traffic Safety Board reviews recommendations for safety solutions to dangerous curve

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - A stretch of road in Tyler that has seen dozens of crashes is another step closer to possibly finding a solution to improve safety. It’s known as the Grande Boulevard reverse or “S” curve and is located between Old Jacksonville Highway and Hollytree Drive in Tyler.

This afternoon the Tyler Traffic Safety Board met to go over findings and recommendations on how to improve the safety of the S-curve on Grande Boulevard. Cameron Williams, the City of Tyler Traffic Engineer said last year they authorized the study.

“We laid out some of the crash information that we found from the report and then the different options that we evaluated, potentially recommending implementation to improve the safety,” Williams said.

The study found that almost 19,000 vehicles drive through the area on a daily basis. Eighty-five percent of drivers are going 45 mph or less, and from 2011-2020 there have been 57 crashes.

Consultants have recommended four options.

“Will look at adding signage which is the LED chevron signs that illuminate as you go through the curve. And adding what’s called a high-friction surface treatment to the pavement that will help increase the friction and make in those wet conditions when people are going through that, give them more traction to minimize a lot of these accidents that we’re seeing.”

Williams said they’re also looking at the potential of relocating an Oncor tower to improve sight visibility going into the curve.

“Traveling westbound on Grande, especially if you’re not familiar with the area, all your visual cues kind of look like the road is going straight. And the tower obstructs some of your visibility of seeing that curve occur,” Williams said.

Concerns about speed limits were also brought up.

“But kind of the bigger thing was the speeds going into there and specifically those wet conditions and that’s where we see a lot of the accidents occurring. So improving the friction through there,” he said.

No action was taken tonight. The next step will be presenting this to the Half Cent Sales Tax board to give them an opportunity to hear the information and then go to city council for discussion and possible action after that.

Copyright 2022 KLTV. All rights reserved.