CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx —
The Nueces County Medical Examiner's Office has identified the two people killed in Friday's four-car crash on Highway 361 as Roberto "Robert" Lopez, 55, and Karen Lopez, 46.
Three people have now died on the highway in a single week.
According to a public fundraiser page set up by Andrea Bell, who identified herself as the couple's oldest daughter, Robert and Karen Lopez were husband and wife, Marine Corps veterans and parents of six children. The youngest is 13.
The fundraiser page states the couple was on their way to pick up their son after his first week of high school when the crash occurred.
Corpus Christi police say they received the call at approximately 3:40 p.m. Friday near the Mayan Princess and Island Park Estates.
According to police, a driver rear-ended a southbound car, pushing it into oncoming traffic. That car then collided with two northbound vehicles.
Police say two other people were taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Alcohol was not a factor, according to investigators.
The crash came five days after a head-on collision on the same highway killed 59-year-old Jarrod Fangman in Port Aransas on Monday, Aug. 10. In that crash, according to traffic investigators, a southbound driver crossed into the northbound lane and struck Fangman's vehicle. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Lawmakers to meet with TxDOT Wednesday
State Rep. Todd Hunter told KRIS 6 News in a text message that the full Nueces County state legislative delegation will meet with TxDOT on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the highway.
"It is important to address Hwy 361 now," Hunter wrote.
The delegation includes Hunter, State Rep. Denise Villalobos and Senators Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa and Adam Hinojosa.
In a separate text message to KRIS 6 News, Rep. Villalobos said Hunter is leading the effort. She wrote this is not the first time the delegation has met about the highway.
KRIS 6 News has covered fatal and serious crashes on Highway 361 for years. In nearly every case, the pattern is the same: a vehicle crosses into oncoming traffic on the undivided two-lane highway, and people die.
In July 2023, TxDOT told KRIS 6 News it had a project "in the early development stages" to improve the highway from Port Aransas to Park Road 22.
By May 2024, TxDOT said improvements were in the "preliminary engineering phases" and that the agency would seek public comment later that year.
In September 2024, TxDOT held a public meeting and presented a proposal to widen Highway 361 from two lanes to four, add a raised center median and build a shared-use path along 15 miles of road. TxDOT has said construction would not begin until at least 2030.
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