The area’s top transportation leaders unveiled new plans to address the deadliest street in Dallas at a town hall meeting on Tuesday. It’s a conversation prompted by an NBC 5 Investigation, Driven to Death, which highlighted dangers on Loop 12 in southern Dallas, a road that continues to lead the city in traffic deaths and injuries. It’s been almost a year since NBC 5 Investigates began asking questions about why so many people are dying and suffering serious injuries on Loop 12. At Tuesday’s meeting, TxDOT announced its most sweeping plans yet to address the dangers, but the concern for some at Tuesday’s meeting is whether the change will happen fast enough to stem the distressing number of deaths. Already, TxDOT and the city have implemented new, lower speed limits on much of Loop 12, installed new signs, lowered speed limits, and painted new speed limits on street pavement. Now, they plan to install 15 new traffic signals, creating new mid-block crossings for pedestrians “You will have 15 new locations that you can walk in a protected by the signal crosswalk, and that hopefully will allow more opportunity for people to walk safely across the road,” said Ceason Clemons, TxDOT’s Dallas District Engineer. Officials said they are also removing or consolidating 41 bus stops near new safer crossings, and they plan to install lighting on the entire Loop 12 corridor. They are also considering using federal money to hire new police officers dedicated to speed enforcement “So whatever speed enforcement we can bring to the problem is going to be critical,” said Michael Morris, Transportation Director at the North Central Texas Council of Governments. While the plans sound encouraging, much of this will take time. For example, installing the new crossings and lights could take 18 months, which is longer than some in the community say they are willing to wait. New data from TxDOT shows 18 people have died in traffic crashes on the loop already this year. “You gonna wait and we gonna come back and another kid died or another person died and you gonna say, alright we have 17 months? Is that what you’re going to say? Let me know,” said Taylor Toynes, an Oak Cliff community leader who addressed Tuesday night’s town hall meeting. Officials pledged to look at how to speed up timelines and said they would work with police to see if more police enforcement is possible right away. The NBC 5 Investigates series “Driven to Death” has told the stories of people who died on Loop 12. The reporting has used video and data to shine a light on the dangers, including high speeds and a lack of crosswalks, causing pedestrians to walk across the middle of Loop 12’s six-lane roads. Community leaders listened, including State Senator Royce West who then pulled together the top transportation officials in the region. “I was alarmed and even shocked of the number of accidents that took place,” said West. DRIVEN TO DEATH driven to death Nov 2, 2023 Dallas traffic death rate worst among 10 largest U.S. cities driven to death Nov 6, 2023 Dallas plan to cut traffic deaths rolls slowly years after council OK'd ‘Vision Zero' driven to death Nov 7, 2023 Dallas City Council members question lack of progress on ‘Vision Zero' traffic safety plan driven to death Nov 8, 2023 Can a Canadian city be a model for Dallas when it comes to road safety? driven to death Nov 9, 2023 Experts question if high speed limits and bad road designs add to Dallas traffic deaths driven to death Nov 17, 2023 With speed the leading cause of Dallas traffic deaths, where are the police? Dallas Jan 30 $500M Dallas transportation bond proposal devotes less than 2% to ‘Vision Zero' road safety plan nbc 5 investigates Dec 13, 2023 One dangerous Dallas street will get a ‘road diet' with federal funds Dallas Jan 31 Dallas council members question ‘minimal' Vision Zero road safety funding in bond plan Fort Worth Feb 6 Fort Worth fatal crashes up 31% in five years as city talks ‘Vision Zero' driven to death Feb 6 Dallas intersection where NBC 5 highlighted pedestrian dangers gets a new crosswalk driven to death Feb 7 Draft traffic study suggests major changes to slow speedy drivers on Ferguson Road in far East Dallas driven to death Feb 14 Five pedestrians killed in 11 months on less than a mile of Loop 12, prompting calls for change driven to death Feb 16 State senator pledges action after NBC 5 investigation highlights deaths on Loop 12 driven to death Feb 20 Dallas ‘Vision Zero' road safety progress questioned at city council briefing driven to death Feb 21 ‘It could have killed someone' Dallas residents beg for protection from dangerous drivers on NW Hwy driven to death Feb 28 Dallas Dept. of Transportation misses deadlines for responding to road complaints thousands of times driven to death Feb 29 Dallas residents hear city's plan to address traffic dangers on Ferguson Road driven to death Mar 27 DART considers moving bus stops to areas safer for pedestrians driven to death Apr 3 Dallas City Council questions how to accelerate road safety plan traffic May 1 Could your phone help save you from a wrong-way driver? Fort Worth May 15 Fort Worth streets identified as dangerous years ago are still among the most deadly Dallas May 22 Triple-digit speeds on Central raise concerns about expressway turned speedway driven to death Aug 28 Dallas considers lowering speed limits on city's deadliest road Dallas Sep 6 Passenger in car that hit & killed student on E. Ledbetter Drive/Loop 12 charged with murder: DPD driven to death Sep 8 Dozens of 'emergency' traffic safety changes planned for Loop 12 driven to death Sep 11 Dallas lowers speed limit on Central Expwy after NBC 5 Investigates reveals extreme speeds driven to death Sep 25 Headed ‘to the pokey.' DFW-area police warn extreme speeders of possible arrest Dallas Sep 30 Crash injuring six children highlights Loop 12 danger zone again Dallas Oct 3 Speed limits drop on Loop 12, Central Expressway headed into Downtown Dallas