SAN ANTONIO – It's been a lengthy process, but a Northwest Side neighborhood hopes new speed dial indicators will help slow down speeders along a busy thoroughfare.
Braun Station community members have been working with the city of San Antonio for several years, trying to find a solution that everyone can agree on that's cost-effective and that works.
Gilbeau Road between Bandera and Tezel roads is on an incline, and it causes people to speed and also creates some blind spots.
Lonnie Wall has worked at Gilbeau Station Animal Hospital, which sits on top of a hill, for several years. Clients pulling in and out of the clinic have a difficult time making a left turn safely, so he tells them to go right and turn around when it's safe.
"When you pull out of here, you gotta get ready to go. Don't hesitate," Wall said.
"When you're in the building, you hear brakes. You cringe because you know you're going to hear someone hit," he said about the road where speeding drivers pull up into vehicles stopped at the light but can't be seen until it's too late.
District 7 Councilwoman Ana Sandoval said the community has been working with the city for a couple of years on a solution. A request for a traffic light was rejected by stakeholders because it would limit access to two other roads leading to the subdivision.
"It would have created some problems with the traffic flow, possibly speeding in other locations," she said.
The cost for a traffic light is roughly $8 million and would have required a bond project to fund it. Sandoval said the Public Safety Committee is working with San Antonio police to come up with a long-term and cost-effective way to reduce speeding across the city.
Police have set up along the road in the past, Wall said, and it helps, but then the speeding returns.
The speed dial indicators have been up for a couple of months, and people are cautiously optimistic they will work.
"There are some who will speed no matter what," Sandoval said. "What we hope is that these indicators will stop those people who are conscientious, who are good citizens, from breaking the law. Because all of the speeding that happens, some people aren't aware that they are doing it."