SAN ANTONIO – Michelle Martinez contacted KSAT in 2021 after a series of crashes outside her community on the Northwest Side.
People were already calling the area of the crashes “Dead Man’s Curve.”
Martinez then asked former San Antonio District 8 Councilman Manny Palaez to help slow down drivers outside the Westfield neighborhood between Horn and Cedar Park Boulevard.
“It’s a long stretch with nothing,” Martinez said.
She said the road is curvy, hilly and narrow, and if drivers are not careful, they will begin to speed.
Most of them do, Martinez says, which is why there have been many cars that end up in her neighbor’s backyard after plowing through a wooden fence.
In 2023, Martinez and her neighbors called KSAT again, saying the city-installed signage and radar speed limit signs were not working, and the crashes continued.
“There used to be something here that flashed,” Martinez said about a flashing sign that was knocked out. “And they ran over it, I’ve told the city that they ran over it, and it’s been 1-2 years now.”
By summer 2023, the community was told money would be set aside in San Antonio’s budget to install a four-way traffic light.
Martinez reached out again in early 2026, saying the crashes continued.
“We’re still going. We still don’t have a light,” she said. “I still haven’t heard from District 8, the new councilwoman.”
KSAT reached out to the District 8 office, which directed us to the Public Works Department for updates on the traffic light.
Here’s the information a spokesperson provided KSAT on when the light might be installed:
“The signal at Prue and Westfield is funded and designed. The City is in the solicitation process to hire a new contractor for traffic signal equipment and installation, and this work would be done under that new contract. We hope to have that new contract finalized by March. As soon as the contract is finalized, we will coordinate a schedule with the contractor.”
Martinez is frustrated and worried that one of her neighbors might die before something is done to slow down speeders.
“Whatever I’ve got to do to get results to help my neighbors, to help my children and me feel safe, just to do the smallest things. That’s what I’m going to do, and I’m not gonna stop until I get there,” she said.