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Two years after a fatal car accident on I-37, people want change now

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Two years ago 4-year old Aidyn Gonzales was killed in a car accident when a truck hit the back of his mother’s car while waiting on the exit ramp to U.S. Highway 77 South into Calallen.

The ramp has been seen as dangerous in the past, and former County Commissioner Mike Pusley is expressing concern and demanding change immediately.

“This needs to be fixed now,” Pusley said. “We can not have mothers going to their child’s funeral because of the dangerous situation caused by this intersection.”

Since the accident in 2017, the Texas Department of Transporation has started to phase in safety measures for the exit ramp. The first of which was a system of warning signs along I-37 warning drivers about traffic ahead. Those have been implemented for some time now.

The second phase is to turn the exit ramp into two-lanes. TxDot told KRIS 6 News that they expect this phase to start in March of 2021. However, after the story initially ran at 5 p.m., County Commissioner Carolyn Vaughn told KRIS 6 News that the project would start in January 2020.

Pusley believes that the ramp can be fixed and is calling on state lawmakers to help in the efforts to make safety fixes.

“Todd Hunter, Abel Herrero, Chuy Hinajosa, we need to fix this now,” Pusley said.