Edinburg Council Opts For Improvements To Alberta and Closner Intersection

Photo above: Current conditions at the intersection from Alberta Road looking east.

Staff Report

Edinburg TX – The Edinburg City Council gave staff approval to start work on making improvements to the intersection of South Closner Blvd. and Alberta Road, an intersection that has been plagued with traffic backups and accidents. The decision was made at this week’s regularly scheduled Council meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 21.

According to City Engineer Mardoqueo Hinojosa, the project is part of a long-term plan of reconstruction and expansion of Alberta Road from I-69 to west of McColl where the city limits end. The sections west of Sugar Road have been completed. The section between Sugar Road to Closner is expected to be completed by April of this year. The city will start on the section east of Closner in March.

The city had conducted a traffic study at the intersection approximately a year and a half ago. In a one-day period, it recorded more than 10,800 vehicles moving through the intersection. While has a speed limit of 55 MPH, the fastest speed recorded during that period was 76 MPH. As a result of that data and the number of accidents at the intersection, the study determined that improvements were warranted.

With respect to the intersection, Hinojosa explained that four options had been considered.

A traditional intersection with a full traffic light rather would allow traffic in all directions.

A “three-legged intersection” would have no traffic light but would include a center concrete barrier that would go down the middle of Closner and block traffic from Alberta from crossing directly to the other side. Westbound Alberta traffic would only be allowed to go north. Eastbound Alberta traffic would have the option to go either north or south. Traffic from Closner would be blocked from making left turns at the intersection.

A “median option” would not include a traffic light but would include a median. Traffic from Alberta would be blocked from crossing directly to the other side of Closner. Westbound Alberta traffic would only be allowed to go north. Eastbound Alberta traffic would only be allowed to turn south. Northbound and southbound Closner traffic would be able to go either left or right in this case.

Illustration above: A roundabout diagram. TxDOT illustration.

A “roundabout” is a circular intersection where traffic moves counterclockwise around a central island. Vehicles entering the circle must yield to those already in the circle. In this way, all four directions are accessible to all incoming lanes. There would be no traffic light included.

Mayor Ramiro Garza Jr. said, “I remember the first proposition was a full-blown light. And that’s where we first brought up the issue of traffic coming off the ramp coming to a full-blown stop. And then possibly causing a line that would back up all the way to the overpass and even cause more accidents.” Garza was referring to traffic coming from the northbound ramp over I-69 from the frontage road just south of Owassa Road.

A Pedro Alvarez, Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) district engineer, explained that a traffic light at the intersection would likely back up traffic all the way to the northbound ramp on Bus. 281 (Closner). “You hit the red-light situation. The average daily traffic is extremely high on Closner. The traffic would back up, up into the ramp itself. We have similar circumstances where we’ve been able to supplement with signage, flashing lights, things of that nature. In other roadways. But there are different geometric and different circumstances for those situations. Speed also has a lot to do with it when you looked at the 85th percentile that the city engineer mentioned, there was a vehicle going 76 miles per hour. Now, that doesn’t happen a lot, right? But at the end of the day, it’s high speed is my point.”

He added, “When you have high speed, you’re going over that ramp, you can’t see what’s in front of you because of the hump on that ramp. And you get to the crest, if you will, and then you look down and there’s a vehicle stopped. Our concern is a rear end collision that may cause additional accidents, severe accidents, including and up to fatalities. So, we have reviewed the three-legged intersection and the median option. Both options are acceptable to TxDOT”.

Garza safety was a top concern for addressing the issue. However, he pointed out that the two proposed solutions would prevent east-west traffic on Alberta from going through, adding to already heavy loads elsewhere.

“As you know Trenton Road is already — I don’t know if it’s at capacity, but it’s widely used, and ere we’re providing a barrier that wouldn’t allow traffic for a good reason and I say good reason in terms of safety I get why it’s being proposed, but you know, our area just continues to grow that much more. There’s still vacant land, as you can see all around there, if you go west, it’s going to get developed at some point based on the interest in the area. That leaves people either going to Owassa Road or going to Trenton Road. You know, that limits the ability for people to access the highways there.”

A member of the audience spoke up in favor of using the roundabout, having seen them used widely in Europe.

We did consider the option for the roundabout,” Hinojosa explained, “but again, as Mr. Alvarez mentioned a while ago, we did have to consider geometrics and how close it is to the on ramp. The actual speeds don’t allow for roundabout, but we did consider it.”

Bob Vackar, one of the owners of Bert Ogden Motors, which has two car lots on the corners of I-69 and E. Alberta Road, spoke up in favor of roundabouts.

Pointing out that he hates roundabouts, Vackar pointed out his experience with roundabouts in heavily trafficked roadways in California at high speeds. “It’s amazing how they work in California, and I think we could make them work here” Vackar said. “The problem… you’ve closed off Alberta Road, okay, right now, and it’s a mess, trying to get down Trenton in the afternoon or morning, trying to get down on Owassa, it’s a nightmare.”

Vackar continued, “We’re talking about developing the medical center, and then I think Alonzo’s (Cantu) building a big new hospital on Jackson Road, and all this east west traffic’s got to move. Talking to Representative Terry Canales, my understanding was before tonight, that TxDOT was going to come in and put some flashing lights, (lower) speed limits back when you exit off the expressway, before that overpass coming down. My question is, why don’t we give that a try?’

Vackar added that traffic coming off I-69 onto Alberta Road is backing up, with cars even going through other businesses and the dealerships to get to Closner. He added that he had opposed the addition of a curb along the exit ramp on southbound I-69 going toward Owassa Road and in front of the Cadillac dealership. He pointed to an accident where a car coming off the exit ramp hit the curb and flipped over three times before hitting a car in the dealership. “We’ve had three of them totaled out. The damage to the cars is close to $200, 000. That’s since you built the curb. You can’t tell me. That, that curb is, is, is a necessity, and what we’re losing out there, and we’re losing this every day. And we said, don’t do it, and nobody will listen to us.”

Vackar also pointed out that accidents and fatalities had decreased since putting up a flashing yellow light at the Closner-Alberta intersection and suggested that warning flashing lights and slower speeds on the down ramp on Closner would help to further curb accidents while allowing east-west traffic to flow.

“I in depth conversation with Representative Canales,” Alvarez explained. “We did look at that. I think it’s important to know that with even with the supplemental lighting, you’re going to have the situation where people are going to be speeding and they’re going to rear end somebody. The question is liability here, right? We sign off at the state level allowing the city to do this. We’re both liable and at the end of the day. It’s about saving lives, right? And we feel that the three-legged option or the median options being proposed minimizes that risk. Well, there’ll be accidents perhaps, but they would be minor in nature, and it would not be those severe accidents or the fatalities for that matter.”

The Council then voted to approve the median option.

In other business, the Council voted to appoint Yolanda Gomez, the only applicant, to Community Development Council. I make a motion to, there was only one applicant, Yolanda Gomez. Second. For the Edinburgh Economic Development Corporation, Board of Directors, the Council voted to appoint Councilman David Salazar. For the Parks and Recreation Board, the Council appointed Javier Salazar. The Council voted to table appointments to the Zoning Board of Adjustment. No reason was given for tabling that item.