They moved to this Fort Worth neighborhood for quiet. Then it became a racetrack.
Traffic blitzed down Park Vista Boulevard as rush hour began to ramp up through the Villages of Woodland Springs.
Neighbors say the area’s rapid development has meant more traffic through their once quiet neighborhood. It hasn’t come without consequences.
A pile of rubble sits just past a curve in the road — it used to be part of the fence surrounding Keith Rakovan’s yard at the end of Turkey Creek Drive in far north Fort Worth. Where the fence once stood tall, rebar juts up from the ground and white paint streaks some bricks.
The cause of the damage: a car, moving at a speed so fast that the driver couldn’t slow down in time before the curve to avoid the crash. It’s the fourth time it’s happened since Rakovan moved in 15 years ago, and the second time in the past two years, he said.
People moved here for the quiet when it was once the edge of the city 15 years ago. Now, it’s a raceway as commuters rush to work in droves through the neighborhood, taking advantage of new roads built to accommodate the region’s explosive growth.
“They don’t build safety around the growth,” Rakovan said as he stood near the rubble.
Speeding across the city is a problem, said Tanya Brooks, the city’s assistant director for the Transportation Management Division. In Woodland Springs, 85% of the drivers were traveling at exactly 51 mph — 11 mph over the speed limit — on Park Vista Boulevard, according to a 2020 study.
As a result, the city installed radar speed signs and explored adding an all-way stop sign, but there wasn’t enough traffic to warrant a change. Resident Sean Lawler said there was also a flashing red-and-blue police speed sign put up near the intersection by the neighborhood splash pool, but it was taken down after two weeks.
The city has been focusing on changes to its most dangerous streets, Brooks said. Park Vista be might explored in the future.
Neighbors are convinced: The efforts haven’t been enough.
Those who live there say it’s not safe for children to walk to parks or schools. Six of the Keller school district’s 27 hazardous bus routes are in The Villages of Woodland Springs, meaning the children live within two miles of their school but the condition are too dangerous for them to walk.
Residents want a reduced speed limit, illuminated crosswalks, more places for drivers to stop, speed bumps, and warnings signs ahead of curves and roundabouts.
Fort Worth City Council member Leonard Firestone, who represents the area, said he’s heard complaints about the area since he’s been in office, as well as other northern parts of District 7.
Firestone said he and other city officials will meet with residents and the home owners association this month to answer questions and address concerns. City officials met with residents virtually in May regarding their concerns. Lawler said nothing came of it.
Issues with speed
The sprawling neighborhood of more than 4,600 homes comes with ponds, playgrounds and duck crossing signs, but one feature seemed to be the deciding factor for some when they moved in: the quiet.
Lawler and his wife have lived on Red Birch Lane for 12 years. There was a time when they joked that it was so quiet they didn’t know where the people in the neighborhood were.
As roads were constructed and older ones expanded, speeding, drag racing and accidents replaced the quiet.
There were 11 accidents on or near a one-mile stretch of Park Vista between West Caylor Road and Keller Hicks Road from January through mid-December 2021.
Although none were fatal, Lawler worries that if the traffic problems aren’t fixed, they might lead to one. Lawler believes making the fixes would be easy.
Only a few days after Jimmy Greninger moved his family from California into their home on Smokethorn Drive in April, he got his first taste of the area’s traffic issues.
Greninger heard what sounded like an explosion outside his home at 3:45 a.m. He went outside to find a vehicle had rammed its way through the brick fence separating his yard from the road. Debris landed in the pool and destroyed the two air conditioning units.
“I mean, it was a mess,” Greninger said. “It was an absolute mess.”
Greninger said those who responded to the scene told him the driver hit the wall at 78 mph. The Fort Worth Police Department did not immediately make documents on the accident available.
Park Vista runs from Watauga Road past Texas 170 (it is named Ray White Road north of North Tarrant Parkway to East Wyndrook Street). There are only a handful of speed limit signs in Woodland Springs.
“It’s too fast for a neighborhood like this, especially a neighborhood that was built first and then later they decided to make it go all the way through,” Greninger said.
Greninger’s children attend school just a mile and a half up the road, but they’re not allowed to walk because the streets are so dangerous.
The school district will consider bus service for children who must walk along Keller Hicks Road, specifically near the roundabout at Park Vista Boulevard, if it hears from parents concerned about the safety, a spokesperson wrote in an email.
Rebecca Burgar has lived on Green Ash Drive for 13 years. She said the traffic issues started as soon as the roundabouts were complete. The city began building them about 10 years ago, and they have been put in at Golden Triangle Boulevard, Keller Hicks Road and Timberland Boulevard. She said it’s rare to see someone going the speed limit down the stretch.
“You know that where they’re going is straight out to 114 so that they can get into the commuter traffic to get to work,” said Burgar, referring to the state highway that makes its way from southern Denton County into Dallas. “They’re not people who live in this neighborhood and have children who go to these schools.”
In response to a request for comment, the neighborhood HOA’s Board of Directors wrote in a statement that it shared the residents’ concerns and has invited City Council members to speak with residents directly at board meetings. The board wrote that it, along with residents, had a helping hand in getting a flashing stop sign in place at the West Caylor intersection, as well as the installation of the radar speed signs. It said it would keep bringing concerns to the council and encouraged residents to do the same.
And during rush hour on Park Vista, the concern among residents is clear.
Just after 5:30 p.m. one Tuesday on the road’s only functioning radar speed sign that day, the orange message flashed over, and over, and over.
SLOW DOWN
This story was originally published February 7, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
