Left turn option at one College Station intersection is modified to reduce crashes

This podcast is a visit with the city of College Station's senior traffic engineer Randell Smith and WTAW's Bill Oliver.Left turn options at one College Station intersection is modified to reduce crashes.This applies to the flashing yellow light for those making a left turn from Texas Avenue to Harvey Mitchell Parkway.The city of College Station's senior traffic engineer, Randell Smith, says the option is only available on weekdays during the peak periods of the morning and afternoon commute.Smith said the change was made in mid-December. That followed 57 crashes between 2020 and 2024 involving vehicles making left turns. 38 of those collisions were during off-peak hours.Since the change, Smith said there has been one crash, which took place during peak hours.There are no plans to return the flashing yellow signal to a 24/7 schedule.And there are no plans at this time to extend the modification to other College Station intersections. That could happen in the future as crash data continues.In Bryan, a WTAW listener informed us that motorists on Villa Maria making a left turn to Wellborn no longer have a yellow flashing arrow. A city of Bryan spokeswoman tells WTAW News that the change was made "to protect the left turn movement to prevent left turn attempts from trying to find gaps in opposing traffic and to better protect crossing pedestrians. The location has numerous unique sight distance challenges with the vertical road curves approaching the underpass that make the intersection challenging." And at this time, no other locations in Bryan are being changed.