CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — In just over two weeks of stepped-up enforcement on Highway 361, Texas DPS troopers have made 849 traffic stops, issued 216 citations and arrested 16 people; including three for driving while intoxicated, according to numbers provided to KRIS 6 News by DPS Sgt. Rob Mallory.
The figures cover the period from when troopers launched the Highway 361 initiative on Sunday, Aug. 17, through noon Tuesday; a span of 16 days. Troopers also issued 610 warnings during that time, Mallory said.
DPS launched the initiative days after three people were killed in two separate crashes on the undivided, two-lane highway in a single week.
On Monday, Aug. 10, 59-year-old Jarrod Fangman was killed in a head-on collision on Highway 361 in Port Aransas after a driver crossed into the oncoming lane, according to traffic investigators. Alcohol was not suspected in that crash, as KRIS 6 News previously reported.
Five days later, Roberto "Robert" Lopez, 55, and Karen Lopez, 46, were killed in a four-vehicle crash near the Mayan Princess and Island Park Estates. Corpus Christi police said a driver rear-ended a southbound car, pushing it into oncoming traffic.
According to a public fundraiser page set up by the couple's oldest daughter, Andrea Bell, the Lopezes were husband and wife, Marine Corps veterans and parents of six children. The youngest is 13. The family said the couple was on their way to pick up their son after his first week of high school when the crash occurred.
The deaths last month prompted State Rep. Todd Hunter to lead the full Nueces County legislative delegation — including Rep. Denise Villalobos and Sens. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa and Adam Hinojosa — in a meeting with TxDOT and DPS to demand faster action.
"Our message to the community is it's time for action. There's no more delay on this," Hunter previously told KRIS 6 News.
Since the meeting, TxDOT has lowered the speed limit from 60 mph to 50 mph between Park Road 22 and a point south of Beach Access Road 1A in Port Aransas and deployed electronic speed display signs and portable message boards with cameras along the corridor.
Mallory has said enforcement alone will not fix the problem.
"We can't do this alone," he previously told KRIS 6 News. "It's gonna take every single driver, every time they get behind the wheel driving down this roadway, to make sure they're being safe."
TxDOT's long-term plan calls for widening the 15-mile stretch from two lanes to four with a raised median and a shared-use path, but that project is not expected to break ground before 2030. The agency has been collecting public input on shorter-term safety fixes and is planning a town hall tentatively scheduled for later this month on Mustang Island.
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