FORT WORTH, Texas \u2014\u00a0We\u2019ve all been there: suddenly stopped on the highway, stuck in standstill traffic because of a wreck ahead.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s frustrating for drivers, but for first responders, it can mean the difference between life and death.<\/p>\n
Spectrum News 1 is digging into the challenges causing traffic back-ups from San Antonio to Houston. And in Dallas-Fort Worth, Spectrum News got a front-row seat with first responders \u2014 seeing firsthand the traffic hurdles they face while responding to emergencies.<\/p>\n
A crash happens in seconds, causing gridlock on Interstate 35 that can stretch for miles. For first responders, every minute stuck navigating blocked lanes puts lives at risk.<\/p>\n
EMS Supervisor Cody Riley has to maneuver through lanes with\u00a0nowhere\u00a0to go, in a race to help before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes you\u2019ll have people do the right thing and you know move over to the right side of the road and sometimes it just gets a little chaotic and people may not know what to do,\u201d said Riley.<\/p>\n
As Texas grows, so does the pressure on roads.<\/p>\n
When Craig Trojacek joined the Fort Worth Fire Department about 20 years ago, the city was a lot smaller.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re well over a million people now.\u00a0The 11th largest city in the nation. With that comes a lot of challenges and stuff with the growth, roadways and safety of people on the roads,\u201d Trojacek said.<\/p>\n
The growth means more people, more cars and more moments where help\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0get there fast enough.\u00a0And it\u2019s not just happening in Tarrant County.<\/p>\n
To give you some perspective, Spectrum News 1 monitored a crash-prone stretch of Interstate 30 that crosses both Dallas and Rockwall counties.<\/p>\n
For 120 hours, every weekday rush hour, morning and night, Spectrum News tracked what drivers and first responders face in real time between Bass Pro Drive and Horizon Road, where the crash rate is above the regional average.<\/p>\n
Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) records show that in the 30 days Spectrum News 1 monitored this stretch of road, there were 26 crashes; three occurred when construction workers were present, and none of the crashes were fatal.<\/p>\n
Spectrum News 1 also captured what first responders tackle before they even arrive, and sometimes it\u2019s not just the driver who needs help.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been some tragic cases here in Fort Worth very recently that some of the first responders have lost their lives responding to emergencies while they\u2019re out there on the freeway,\u201d said Trojacek.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So,\u00a0the city is trying something new. Spectrum News 1 got a first look at Fort Worth\u2019s new Blocker Trucks, equipped with a device called the Scorpion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings are almost like a big cushion,\u201d\u00a0said Trojacek.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They are designed to absorb impact, creating a protective barrier between traffic and first responders.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s designed not only with our protection and stuff in mind, but they\u2019re also engineered to make sure they\u2019re trying to do a crumple zone. So, whoever\u2019s hitting them, we\u2019re thinking of them too. So, it\u2019s supposed to be a softer impact. Then hitting one of our fire trucks. That may weigh 40-80,000 pounds, and it\u2019s that abrupt halt,\u201d\u00a0said Trojacek.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fort Worth plans to roll out two more of these trucks in April. That\u2019s encouraging to first responders like Trojacek.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had many injuries on this job with people coming through our scenes, hitting our trucks since I\u2019ve been on the job. I think with the growth and some of the construction and stuff that\u2019s kind of more recent here in Fort Worth. There\u2019s been somewhat of an uptick,\u201d said Trojacek.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While it may feel like crashes are happening more often, new data tells a different story.\u00a0The latest crash report from the North Central Texas Council of Governments reveals a shift. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, fatal crashes peaked in 2021. Since then, fatal crashes trended down each year. The biggest decrease happened in 2025.<\/p>\n
Spectrum News 1 compared this to statewide numbers and discovered the same trend: fatal crashes peaked in 2021 across Texas and reached a five-year low in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does seem like we\u2019re doing something to improve it,\u201d said Natalie Bettger, senior program manager of congestion management and system operation at the North Central Texas Council of Governments.<\/p>\n
The challenge now is to understand what\u2019s working.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just need to figure out what exactly it is. We take a whole host of programs to try to fight against crashes on our roadways,\u201d said Bettger.<\/p>\n
Those programs are things like \u201cDrive Aware North Texas,\u201d which teaches about what causes crashes, and \u201cLook Out Texans,\u201d which is a bike and pedestrian campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have we still have programs to implement. And so hopefully we continue to see this reduction,\u201d said Bettger.<\/p>\n
The goal of these programs is to keep the roads moving when every second counts as first responders find a way through, no matter the traffic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got moms and dads, brothers and sisters, wives, kids. And we want to get back home, too. And we want to do it safely. And the reason that we\u2019re out there to begin with is because it may be your moms and dads and brothers and sisters that are needing our help out here on these freeways,\u201d said\u00a0Trojacek.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT WORTH, Texas \u2014\u00a0We\u2019ve all been there: suddenly stopped on the highway, stuck in standstill traffic because of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[30626,30627,132,134,133,8455,1570,102,138,223,82,27,1569,272,29499,835],"class_list":["post-227093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-app-traffic-transit","tag-app-traffic-and-transit","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-blessing-iwuchukwu","tag-ctv","tag-dallas","tag-el-paso","tag-news","tag-san-antonio","tag-texas","tag-texas-what-you-need-to-know","tag-traffic","tag-traffic-and-transit","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}