CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — When driving down Flour Bluff Drive and toward Yorktown Boulevard, you’ll notice two lanes in each direction merging into just one lane in each direction.
Edward Montemayor works as the lead sales representative for South Texas Metal Roofing on Flour Bluff Drive, on the part of the street where it’s just one lane in each direction.
“It probably takes us maybe 10, 15 minutes to try to squeeze through traffic to get out,” Montemayor said.
He said new housing and businesses on Flour Bluff Drive are adding more traffic to the area, especially in the morning around 7:30-9 a.m. when people are going to work and school.
“I got hit maybe eight months ago," Montemayor said. "I was actually turning in to our property and a lady tried to squeeze in around me and she hit my truck.”
He said when the City of Corpus Christi added Purdue Road about halfway down Flour Bluff Drive near where he works, the flow of traffic got better.
Montemayor said when new businesses and housing developments came into the area recently, traffic went back to normal.
He said the City should improve the street because there’s not just traffic, but kids in the area crossing the street, with no sidewalks or crosswalks.
“It wold be nice to have double lanes, double lanes here. Also maybe another street light somewhere,” he said.
Kristina Nelson lives in Flour Bluff and also said Flour Bluff Drive is a problem because there are a limited amount of sidewalks and crosswalks.
“We have to keep the kids safe and this has been a major issue for a long time. If you drive down Glenoak, there are no sidewalks. There’s a short period of sidewalk near the school area, but only on one side,” Nelson said.
She said the morning and evening around 5 p.m. when people are returning back from work and home is a time when there’s a lot of traffic. She said lighting is also an issue, especially at night.
“At night it’s extremely dark down Flour Bluff Drive all the way down to Yorktown and it’s a little scary," Nelson said. "You have wildlife that runs out as well.”
Nelson said that she sees at least one crash on Flour Bluff Drive a week and has even seen cars go into the ditches that line the streets.
“It needs to be widened for sure to accommodate all the traffic,” Nelson said, adding that there needs to be more lanes.
We requested an interview with the City of Corpus Christi asking them if they would make improvements to Flour Bluff Drive.
“The Mayor and City Council have placed a high priority for significant improvements to Flour Bluff Drive to accommodate the expansion and growth of the area,” the public works department said in a statement.
