The community met on October 12 to discuss traffic solutions for the segment of Jupiter Road from Northwest Highway to Garland Road.
update: community meeting to be held on 11/30
East Dallas Greater Good invites you to participate in a virtual follow-up community meeting with Councilmember Blackmon and city staff on Tuesday, November 30 at 5:30 p.m. to discuss the city’s proposed solutions to the traffic safety issues on Jupiter Road. The meeting link is below.
Virtual Community Meeting
Topic: EDGG: Jupiter Road Traffic Safety Follow Up
Time: Nov 30, 2021 05:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 863 3234 1282
Passcode: EDGG
One tap mobile
+13462487799,,86332341282#,,,,*448906# US (Houston)
+12532158782,,86332341282#,,,,*448906# US (Tacoma)
Lochwood and Gaston Park neighbors have long dealt with traffic and safety concerns on the one-mile stretch of Jupiter Road between Northwest Highway and Garland Road, but after numerous consecutive accidents, community leaders with East Dallas Greater Good called a neighborhood meeting. Neighbors were joined by District 9 Councilwoman Paula Blackmon and city staff from Dallas Police, Traffic and Code Enforcement divisions to discuss proposed traffic safety solutions.
A History of Accidents
East Dallas Greater Good co-founder Maricela Martinez has been driving a renewed call for enforcement and safety measures. Her fence has been taken out three times since her family bought her home on Earlywood Drive – twice in the past 18 months. “Neighbors should be able to enjoy the comfort of their homes without being concerned for their family’s safety.”
The most recent accidents in September and October took out power to both the Lochwood and Eastwood neighborhoods and caused significant property damage.
After crashing into a neighbor's fence on Jupiter, the driver of this Dodge Charger fled. The accident was speed-related.
Traffic Study
In response, the city’s Traffic & Transportation department installed a speed trailer, an illuminated message board that indicates speed to passing drivers. The device collected data for a few weeks before it was vandalized and removed. The data it did collect indicated that this six-lane stretch has more than 16,000 vehicles per day.
Traffic staff also conducted a review of the 12-month accident history on this stretch of roadway and found 20 vehicle accidents, including three caused by speeding and eight caused by failure to yield right-of-way. Failure to yield is most often caused when neighbors pulling out from residential side streets into speeding traffic on main thoroughfares don’t have adequate time to turn. Together, this makes more than half of the analyzed accidents speed-related. Four accidents were caused by an unsafe lane change, one DUI and one accident while fleeing police.
Adding to confusion, the roadway has two school zones for a single school – Martha Turner Reilly Elementary. The campus is located one block west of Jupiter Rd on Lippitt Ave. North to south, the school zone starts at Earlywood Dr and then ends at Broadmoor Dr before starting again at Lanewood Cir and ending at Rupley Ln. Although the entire Gaston Park neighborhood east of Jupiter is zoned to Reilly, the two school zones span just two blocks each. The long-time school crossing guard has complained about speeding vehicles to police.
A Dallas Police Neighborhood Patrol Officer (NPO) began conducting limited traffic enforcement in September that resulted in 22 stops. One driver was caught going almost 70 mph in the 20 mph school zone. DPD informed the community it lacks resources to do any additional enforcement, but has agreed to add the area to a list of hot spots that DPD’s racing task force patrols.
traffic safety Solutions
The next community meeting on this topic will be held on November 30 at 5:30 PM. Community members are encouraged to complete a survey to help best determine which traffic calming measures it is most interested in seeing implemented on Jupiter Road. The solutions range from speed cushions to a lane diet and multi-stop locations. Safety solutions will be implemented after determining feasibility and hearing feedback from the community.
In the meantime, city staff is reviewing its previous plans to add Jupiter Road to its city bike plan. Staff is also going to review the advance signage around the school zone and consider consolidating to one larger zone to both slow traffic and reduce confusion. It will also review the installation of permanent speed feedback signs for drivers, like those recently installed on Easton Road.
Anyone interested in joining this initiative can email kathryn@eastdallasgreatergood.org to receive a link to the next meeting and updates. Follow East Dallas Greater Good on Facebook for more information on community issues and solutions in East Dallas.
This information is so great! The maps, the detailed photos and video. Love what our group is doing. Thanks to all the residents and advocate to help make our area great!
I missed the call about the Jupiter convo , but I have to say Ive lived here over 37 years and its never been this bad. I have seen a little girl only playing in her own yard and was killed by someone racing . I have seen almost everyone of our surrounding neighbors homes , fences , or vehicles hit. Costing us the home owners 1000s . And some things you cant replace like this little girl that was struck. I pray that they get it together and know a sign isnt doing ANYTHING! We need something thats going to slow them down how about speep bumps all the way down the street every 150 feet !!!!! This would not allow anyone to get enough speed to do any damages !
Fantastic. I don’t have zoom. Is there another way to join?! Thx.
My email gets so much spam I may miss things there. I am in Casa View neighborhood group.