Serious accident in East Dallas renews neighbors’ calls for change

A serious weekend crash in East Dallas has renewed calls from neighbors for safer streets.

Dallas police were called in connection with a serious accident on Garland Road on Lakeland Drive around 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

According to a sworn statement of probable cause filed by Dallas police, 22-year-old Arianna Alvarez was driving drunk and quickly crashed into the back of a GMC Terrain that was stopped at a traffic light on Garland Road.

The force of the collision caused the GMC Terrain to roll over and flip upside down.

Four people inside the GMC Terrain were taken to hospital, including two women, with serious injuries.

Alvarez was also taken to the hospital in critical condition. She faces two episodes of assault while intoxicated with grievous bodily harm.

Natalie Montgomery lives nearby and petitioned the city to change Garland Road and nearby Ferguson Road after several fatal accidents.

Neighbors have long complained that people drive too fast – some are in a hurry, and some are street racing.

“It’s become such a race track that we can hear racing for hours at night and it’s become normal,” Montgomery said.

Garland Road passes through East Dallas, but is also State Route 78 and is overseen by the Texas Department of Transportation.

“When this road was built, it was built as a highway between Dallas and Garland, and it still has six lanes. It doesn’t make sense,” Dallas City Council member Paula Blackmon said. “The speeds are crazy and we need to work on measures to reduce traffic.”

Blackmon said state oversight is limiting the engineering changes the city can make to Garland Road, but she remains hopeful the city and state can find solutions.

The area is getting busier, attracting walkers to White Rock Lake and the many small businesses that have opened in recent years.

A city spokesman said the Department of Transportation is working to address community concerns about Garland Road between I-635 and I-30, adding that the city will work with TxDOT and the North Central Texas Council of Governments to explore the portion of Garland Road from Garland/ Intersection of Gaston/Grand with I-30.

The City also said it has improved traffic lights from N. Buckner Boulevard to Northwest Highway and plans to add a new traffic light at the intersection of Emerald Isle Drive and Garland Road.

Montgomery said she would keep talking.

“If we don’t act, fatal accidents will continue,” Montgomery said.

Blackmon said the exploration of the nearby Ferguson Road Corridor is almost complete and engineers will present ideas to the community on how to make it safer later this spring.

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