Used needles found at TxDOT rest areas

BURNET COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) - Bulldozers demolished a roadside picnic area along U.S. 281 just south of Farm to Market 2147 on Tuesday. 

The area used to be a scenic overlook, granting motorists who stopped a breathtaking view of Lake Marble Falls.

Mike Brasuel, 51, used to hangout with his friend at this "turnaround point" in the middle 1970s.

"Kids gathered, shot the breeze, you know. Whatever," Brasuel recalled.

The picnic area is one of seven TxDOT is shutting down in Burnet County .  Criminal activity, people leaving trash from their homes and cost of upkeep are reasons being cited for the closures.

"We were receiving complaints from people who live near them," said John Hurt with TxDOT .  "They were finding pipes, syringes, needles, crack pipes, condoms and roach clips."

City Manager Ralph Hendricks said police found drug needles at the area just last week.

Brausel told KXAN, back in his day, the area was used for picnicking and taking pictures.  Many Marble Falls residents made memories there.  Back in the 1900s, residents on horseback stopped at the same spot to take in the view.

"Remember when a friend of mine got hurt up there.  One of those kid things. You dare someone to climb to the top of a light pole and he fell and got hurt," Brasuel added.

City leaders did step in and saved the picnic area across from Granite Mountain on Ranch Road 1431.

"We think that is a good viewing area for that," Hendricks said. 

The city will shoulder costs of upkeep which Hendricks said are minimal because there are no trash cans there and the area is mostly rock and pavement.

The city did not jump in to save the area along U.S. 281 because a hotel was build behind it obstructing the view it once gave of the lake.

That picnic area is officially closed and new landscaping will be put in.

TxDOT plans to have the remaining six picnic areas closed by month's end.

"You don't want to see Marble Falls grow up," Brasuel said. "But things change."