City to close Austin Avenue section

HARLINGEN — In about seven years, a 400-foot roadway has been blamed for 30 auto accidents.

Last night, city commissioners voted to close the stretch at 1200 E. Austin and 1000 77 Sunshine Strip.

But before the city permanently seals off the roadway located between two median strips, officials plan to barricade it for a period of time.

That’s because they want “to make sure this is something that’s going to resolve the safety concerns we have,” City Manager Dan Serna said in an earlier interview.

Since 2010, the roadway has been the scene of 30 traffic accidents, Assistant City Manager Carlos Sanchez said.

Sanchez said the roadway is poorly designed to handle heavy traffic near Harlingen High School and St. Alban’s Episcopal Day School.

In nearly seven years, residents working at nearby businesses have seen cars crash and ambulances rush motorists and passengers to hospitals.

In the last two years, Adrianna Garcia has seen about eight traffic accidents there.

The stretch is “dangerous,” Garcia said at a T-Mobile store near the intersection of East Austin Avenue and 77 Sunshine Strip.

Many drivers, she said, “just don’t look at the traffic coming four different ways — especially when school is getting out.”

Across the street at Auto Zone, Blue Morin said he has seen as many as six accidents in the last two years. But there have been many more, Morin said.

Many drivers, he said, run stop signs there.

Morin described some of the accidents as “little fender-benders.”

“But I’ve seen good wrecks where they had to go to the hospital,” he said.