A weekend crash left a Metro bus dangling off an embankment near Highway 288, and tonight, community leaders are questioning whether it could have been prevented.
They say safety upgrades voters already approved for McGowen Street were quietly removed from plans, potentially putting lives at risk.
A dangerous history at the intersection
According to TxDOT CRIS data, there have been 34 crashes at this intersection since 2016. Neighbors say the danger is ongoing, and predictable.
“Those corner intersections get rebuilt every year as cars fly over the edge in accidents,” said Ed Pettitt, vice president of the Greater Third Ward Super Neighborhood. “It happens two or three times a year.”
On Saturday, it wasn’t a car, it was a Metro bus carrying 15 people that plunged down the embankment.
Witnesses say crash nearly hit bus stop
Lataffia Harris says she and her daughter were waiting at a nearby bus stop when the bus sped past them moments before the crash.
“That could have been me and my baby,” Harris said.
METRO says the bus was hit from behind, but Harris says what she saw tells a different story.
“I think she was trying to dodge him,” Harris said, referring to the bus driver.
Community leaders say safety plan was changed
Pettitt and other community leaders say the crash was not unpredictable. In 2019, voters approved the METRONext BOOST 54 project, which included plans to reduce lanes, slow traffic, and add bike lanes along McGowen Street, changes meant to act as a safety buffer near the bridge.
“This was a project that was fully funded, fully designed,” Pettitt said.
He says the proposed additions would have created a barrier and added more distance between traffic and the edge of the bridge, the same edge that continues to be struck during crashes.
However, Pettitt says the plan was later changed after Metro shifted priorities and the city adopted new guiding principles that limited changes to lane widths.
“Those things would have improved the safety, lowered the speeds, and prevented crashes like the one we saw with the Metro bus,” Pettitt said.
Signs of repeated crashes still visible
Bent and broken barriers remain at the scene, including one damaged barrier sitting diagonally near a temporary barricade installed after Saturday’s crash. Neighbors say it’s physical evidence of a recurring problem, and a warning of what could happen again.
Metro responds
While the original plan included bike lanes, Metro says the BOOST 54 project did not include shrinking or removing vehicle lanes on this section of McGowen Street near Highway 288.
KPRC forwarded those project plans to METRO for clarification, but a response has not yet been received.