SAN ANTONIO – With 17 bus routes and 72,000 daily car trips, Zarzamora Street is a busy road. But that’s not always enough to keep people in the crosswalks.
In 2023 alone, there were 24 pedestrian crashes along a seven-and-a-half mile stretch between Fredericksburg Road and SW Military Drive. But the City of San Antonio hopes adding eight mid-block crosswalks will help make one of the city’s most dangerous corridors a little bit safer.
The city council voted to accept a $4.4 million Safe Streets For All (SS4A) grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Combined with $1.1 million in local funds meant for Vision Zero projects, the city plans to add crosswalks with dedicated traffic lights.
“The locations that we will pick will be impactful. Again, where we see most of that pedestrian activity,” said City of San Antonio Transportation Department Director Cat Hernandez.
The department will also use some of the money for safety campaigns on Zarzamora Street and nine other dangerous corridors.
But the simple existence of the crosswalks doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be used. During a visit to a similar, mid-block crosswalk on Fredericksburg Road, KSAT saw at least two people jaywalk within 200 feet of the crosswalk.
“It’s hard to change everybody’s behavior. But if we can impact one, maybe that leads to the next one,” Hernandez said.