Austin

Crews Improve Crowley Intersection Where Young Girl Died in Crash

Nearly 17,000 people called for improvements in online petition

Eleven months after a young girl was killed in a traffic accident, state crews made safety improvements to the busiest – and some say most dangerous – intersection in Crowley.

Krysta Click was passing through the intersection of FM 1187 and FM 731 one day last April when the unthinkable happened. An accident killed her 20-month-old daughter Eleanor.

"It will never make sense to me why it had to happen,” Click said.

The mother quickly turned into a crusader.

"I don't want her life to be in vain," she said. "There's no reason this should happen again."

She researched police records and found dozens of other accidents at the same intersection or nearby.

She blamed the timing of the red lights.

"While this one is just turning green (on 731), and everyone is already going, this light is just now turning yellow on 1187,” she said.

The busiest intersection in Crowley is also its most dangerous, she said.

"There was a one second delay. One second," she said. "That's not enough time."

After her daughter's death, she pushed for changes.

It was a simple fix but nobody would listen, she said.

"I got transferred from person to person, every time I called, I called the city, I called TxDOT, I called Austin," she said.

She started an online petition on the website "change.org." Nearly 17,000 people agreed with her.

Then, on Wednesday, she happened to be driving through the same intersection.

"I had tears. I'm not going to lie. Of course I cried," she said.

She saw TxDOT crews finally re-timing the lights to help avoid accidents like hers.

"The timing. That's all I wanted fixed," she said.

Crews also put up no U-turn signs and lowered the speed limit.

For a mother still in mourning, it was a special victory – for her daughter.

"And I know she's up there cheering everyone on, cheering me on. I know that she is happy that I was able to fix this."

Crowley’s mayor, city manager and police chief declined to be interviewed. So did a spokesman for TxDOT.

The city and state agency did issue statements on the timetable of the changes.

TxDOT studied traffic at the intersection and recommended the improvements late last year. The Crowley city council signed off on them in December.

The state owns and maintains the highways but they pass through the city of Crowley.

The original version of this story incorrectly reported the accident happened in August. It happened in April.

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