Safety concerns lead to changes

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The intersection of Slaughter Lane and RM 1826 is extremely busy during the time kids are walking to Gorzycki Middle School .

Because there were so many concerns, the city of Austin teamed up with the Austin Independent School District and the Texas Department of Transportation to do something about it.

Throughout the spring and summer, new signals and sidewalks were added along RM 1826, along with a new school zone and crosswalk in front of the campus.

When the middle school opened up last year, the principal sent a letter home to parents warning them to make sure their kids took extra precautions when walking to the school.

Last year, there were no sidewalks along RM 1826, and the speed limit was 55 mph.

TxDOT even did a study on the area and found more than 12,000 cars traveled on the road everyday and that more than 80 percent were traveling at more than 60 mph.

While there were several proposals on the table of what to do in order to make the walk to school safer - including making a tunnel under the road - creating sidewalks and signals turned out to be the best solution.

TxDOT's goal was to complete it before October, but they finished it up in time for the start of this school year.