A busy stretch of road in Denton is being widened to accommodate more traffic, but some people who live near the highway feel the improvements have come at a deadly cost.
Two separate accidents, one fatal, on U.S. Route 380, west of Denton, have residents taking action to prevent another crash.
The concern is focused on the section of U.S. 380 being widened to six lanes in the area west of Interstate 35W. Neighbors say they were completely surprised when traffic started flowing in the westbound lanes.
On the morning of Sept. 15, Beverly Chambers, 75, left her home for an exercise class. When she pulled out of her residential road to cross U.S. 380, she was immediately hit by a westbound 18-wheeler carrying rock. Chambers died at the scene.
"For a year we've had barricades up and so the traffic going west was dead. It was not live. And then Thursday morning TxDOT changed that status to a live status but there was no warning," resident Ann Smith explained.
A similar accident happened the same morning about a mile away. A man was ejected from his truck and seriously injured when he was also hit by a semi.
Smith said the Texas Department of Transportation did not properly notify people who live on cross streets about the changing traffic pattern, and no one was expecting it that morning.
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TxDOT sent a statement to NBC 5 about the accident and signage that was in place.
"TxDOT is waiting for the police reports regarding the fatal crash last week. For more information regarding the crash investigations, please contact the Denton Police Department."
"Our thoughts are with the people affected by these crashes. Initial indications are that all necessary measures were in place, including changeable message signs notifying motorists of the traffic switch. The message signs were located on westbound US 380 at I-35E and on the southbound frontage road of I-35E at US 380. New stop bar pavement markings and new stop signs with orange flags were also installed before the traffic switch. Workers were also present and monitoring traffic flow on the morning the crashes occurred. Workers later that day took extra steps to set up additional changeable message boards at most cross streets, a measure that is not typically done for traffic switches.
"TxDOT reviews all fatality crashes, and the department is looking at what could be done in similar situations in the future. In addition, TxDOT was already working with the City for traffic study submittals to review a new signal light at the Marshall/Cindy intersection."
Ann Smith explained that she does not want to point fingers, but believes more signs were needed at smaller cross streets.
"Nobody in this neighborhood is interested in calling people out. We are interested in the accident that happened to Mrs. Chambers never happening to again to anybody," Smith said.
Denton Police are still investigating both accidents. At this point, investigators believed driver of the semi that hit Chambers will not face charges because Chambers failed to yield the right of way.
