How TxDot and Dallas Leaders Are Enhancing Loop 12 Safety

A Dangerous Stretch of Highway

Stretching across southern Dallas, one state highway is notoriously deadly. Loop 12 has served as the scene for hundreds of injuries and dozens of deaths in a roughly 15-mile stretch over nearly three years. Community members are pushing for increased safety on the state highway, with sections of it named Ledbetter Drive, Great Trinity Forest Way and Walton Walker Boulevard. Buckner Boulevard in Pleasant Grove, also part of the loop, has also been deemed dangerous.

State and local officials discussed recent efforts and progress Tuesday night in the third of a series of town halls. Crashes and deaths have fallen over the past couple of years. But one death is too many, and there’s still a long way to go, State Sen. Royce West said.

“We have to do something, and that’s why we’re here,” West said, adding, “We want to make sure that you understand that we’re working together in order to address this problem.”

West hosted the meeting at For Oak Cliff, a community center off Ledbetter. Officials from the city, the Texas Department of Transportation, DART and the North Central Texas Council of Governments discussed adding traffic signals and crossings, moving bus stops, improving lighting and making way for sidewalks.

Efforts to Improve Safety

Sixteen traffic signals are going up along all of Loop 12, which bisects Glendale Park, where residents have called for a pedestrian bridge. Community members have said people on foot often try to dart across the highway’s six lanes. West showed data for Loop 12, bounded by interstates 35 and 45, where there have been 28 deaths. Of those, 12 were pedestrians.

Some pedestrians were walking 500 or 800 feet just to find a light signal to cross safely, said Ceason Clemens, district engineer for TxDOT’s Dallas District. She noted a focus on putting signals closer to bus stops. Michael Morris, director of transportation for the NCTCOG, said officials are trying to turn a “junior freeway” into a thoroughfare street as quickly as possible.

“What’s critical for me to try to get across is not one particular item is going to solve this particular problem,” Morris said, adding that a comprehensive set of goals is needed.

Loop 12 was the city’s first highway loop in the 1950s, according to officials. Since then, the city has expanded in the area, with businesses and residential areas cropping up around the loop. Officials said it takes collaboration among multiple agencies to fund efforts such as installing stoplights, increasing traffic enforcement, moving bus stops closer to crossings and installing sidewalks.

Progress and Challenges

Clemens said that at the previous meeting in October 2024, officials expected it would take a couple of years to get the new signals. “The senator challenged us, everyone in this room, and said, ‘We’ve got to get better,’” Clemens said. “So, we’ve tried to get better.”

Clemens said Tuesday that all 16 signals have been designed and funded, under construction. Eight are within the southern Dallas area discussed at the meeting. As part of the coordinated effort, DART has removed 24 bus stops and is reviewing 18. The agency has agreed not to place any new ones at state facilities unless a signaled crossing is nearby.

Clemens said the hope is that by working with the power companies, the signals will be operating by the spring. “There’s a lot of work that still needs to be done, but we are pushing our contractor as hard as we can,” she said, adding that workers have an incentive to finish early and that the lights will hopefully slow down traffic.

The southern Dallas stretches of Loop 12 have been deemed part of a “high injury network” by the city’s Vision Zero effort, which aims to curtail traffic deaths. Dallas police have stepped up enforcement, said Gus Khankarli, director of the city’s transportation and public works department. He showed data for crashes along Great Trinity Forest, Walton Walker and Ledbetter, which stretch from east to west across southern Dallas.

Last year, there were 2,184 citations. So far this year, there have been at least 1,867. Still, though the number of crashes has been going down, fatalities aren’t declining at the same rate, meaning some crashes result in multiple deaths, Khankarli said. In 2023, the three roads saw 12 deaths out of 388 crashes. In 2024, there were nine deaths in 350 crashes. So far this year, the roads have seen 317 crashes and seven deaths, according to the presentation.

Several attendees said they knew someone or knew of people killed on the road. Arthur Fleming said his aunt, Betty Fleming, was killed on the road a few years ago. He believes she was killed crossing the street near Ledbetter and Bonnie View. She took a shortcut, “like a lot of people do,” he said. “All these people getting killed, ain’t nobody getting charged for nothing,” Fleming said.

Fleming said he’s seen officials go back and forth over the years about who will be responsible for the infrastructure, speed limits and other safety measures on the road. On Tuesday, he said he saw some progress. Still, Fleming had questions. “Who’s going to be responsible after all this is over? How do we keep up with the progress that’s being made?” he said.

The previous meeting in October 2024 was “a little tense,” said Taylor Toynes, who leads the community center. He said a child had been struck and killed on the road. Toynes said he told officials the road needed stoplights, and they responded that it would be a process and take time. “I told them, ‘Well, if that’s the case, then I need you to come out here on the streets and be a crossing guard with me,’” Toynes said.

On Tuesday, he could see the stoplights going up on Ledbetter. He gave officials bright safety vests, a lighthearted gesture and a sign of goodwill after the previous exchange. West donned the bright vest over his gray suit.

Progress is more important than perfection, Toynes said, and he said he sees how efforts have been moving forward rather than sitting dormant. “It won’t be perfect today or even next week,” Toynes said. “As long as they keep showing up and listening to the community, I think that we’ll be able to get to where we need to be, and we’ll make the road safer and improve the quality of life for all the residents over here.”