Roadblock Leads To Residential Rage On Highway 114
NORTH FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - While construction crews continue to work in the heat to repair the 156 bridge over Highway 114, tempers have been heating up about a half mile east of the repair work. "There's no directions, there's no detour signs. They come through the neighborhood at high rates of speed," argued Douglas Delaney, who lives in the Champions Circle subdivision.
The bridge is being repaired after an 18-wheeler carrying a large cylinder of rebar tried to pass under it in early June. The rebar hit and damaged the bridge.
But just days into the repairs and Delaney and his fellow neighbors are already sick and tired of seeing an endless stream of traffic flow through their quiet subdivision.
For the past three nights and all day today, Highway 114 at Double Eagle Road has been blocked off so crews can fix the bridge.
The roadblock left drivers with two options. One: turn around. Or two: make a left turn directly into the Champions Circle neighborhood.
It seems half the drivers chose option two, which made neighbors furious. "We're getting full-time traffic," explained neighbor, Dave Larson. "We're having problems because we have a lot of kids in this neighborhood. All they're doing is driving in and then coming back, Larson added.
Neighbors are quick to point out that there is no way out of the subdivision, and so the steady stream of traffic has been forced to turn around and plow once again back through the neighborhood.
That is why residents like Marcia Irwin have been hand painting road signs informing drivers that the neighborhood is not a detour and that there's no outlet.
"A big-rig truck almost took out a light pole last night," recalls Irwin. "There's a huge dent in the side of it from a semi hitting it. It's just a matter of time before somebody gets smushed," she added.
After CBS 11 showed up at the scene with cameras and after hearing an earful from neighbors, Tx-Dot finally moved the road block about a quarter mile east. A Fort Worth police officer was also there to divert traffic down a road near the Texas Motor Speedway.
