A water fountain in Olmos Park is set to be removed less than four years after it was installed in the middle of a roundabout.
The Spanish style fountain has been a magnet for drunk and distracted drivers since it was installed.
"I really hate for it to go because it is a pretty fountain," said business owner Malik Saleh. "Safety is important and if they decide to do it I guess they have a good reason for it."
Citizens raised money for the fountain, which was installed in late 2008. That's when the trouble began.
"The first time it was hit was while it was being constructed," said Olmos Park City Manager Michael Simpson. "Since then, there's been 25 more strikes on either the bollards or the fountain itself."
The city has tried several solutions to make the fountain more visible. They've installed rumble strips, a flashing yield sign, highly reflective pavement markers, reflective tape around the fountain, even more lighting inside the fountain. But the fountain continues to take a beating.
"The major cause that we can identify is impaired drivers. Most of the strikes occurred at night. Almost all of those were impaired one way or another or distracted," Simpson said. "The first time it got hit, I understand, was a guy who was texting and watching a TV inside his car at the same time."
After a lengthy study, the city council voted last month to remove the fountain and have it reinstalled somewhere else.
They now plan to add one way signs to point drivers in the right direction.
They expect more accidents, but the roundabout will stay.
"There's almost universal favor for the roundabout," Simpson said. "So it would take a traffic engineer telling us that it's inherently unsafe for the council to decide to remove it."