Slippery highway gets look

January 14, 2013, 9:00 pm by Adam Troxtell

Last Thursday a Marble Falls EMS ambulance crashed while transporting a patient northbound on US 281. It was the second wreck in less than 24 hours in the same area on 281, north of Resource Parkway.

After two accidents in less than 24 hours on a stretch of US 281 north of Marble Falls during wet weather, the Texas Department of Transportation will be searching for ways to make it safer, an area engineer said Monday.

TxDOT engineer Howard Lyons said a high occurrence of accidents in that area, at the northern edge of town just north of Resource Parkway and south of Wagoner Tire, has prompted action from the state agency before and more ways to reduce incidents are being considered.

"We are evaluating it and will continue to look for ways to improve that area,” Lyons said. "We have done some work in both directions there. We did some treatment there and we put up signage trying to get people to slow down.”

Lyons said excessive speed in that area can be particularly dangerous on rainy days, especially on the northbound side where water collects at the bottom of a hill. There, sheets of water can sit and cause an unsuspecting driver to hydroplane.

For the full story, see Tuesday's Highlander.