Texas Department of Transportation

Roadside Cross May Have to Come Down: Father

A man who lost two loved ones in a crash along Interstate 30 in Grand Prairie said the cross he placed along the side in their honor may soon have to come down.

Kurt Smith planted the two-foot-tall wooden cross near the exit for North Belt Line Road in honor and memory of his son, Joshwa, and his wife, Shay, who died after a crash there in 2013.

“A drunk driver came up and just literally plowed through the back of their car,” said Smith.

Smith said the cross reminds him of the son he lost.

“I come by every morning, five days a week, and I talk to the both of them,” said Smith. “Sometimes it's a good laugh. Sometimes it's a good cry.”

But now the cross might have to come down. The Texas Department of Transportation is looking into whether the cross is a distraction to drivers after receiving a complaint this week.

“Now they want to pull something that I cherish and that my family cherishes,” said Smith. “It’s not right.”

The cross has been in that location for a year now, and TxDOT said this was the first time it has received a complaint about it.

“I mean, there are crosses everywhere,” said Smith. “But why me all of a sudden?”

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