{"id":93991,"date":"2025-12-19T10:48:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/93991\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T10:48:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:48:19","slug":"texas-town-pleads-for-help-to-avoid-fatal-traffic-accidents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/93991\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas town pleads for help to avoid fatal traffic accidents"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy<\/a>, and give us feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

PECOS \u2014 For Joe Keese, nothing had been out of the ordinary about that Wednesday last December. A teacher from the nearby elementary school had stopped by the Chamber of Commerce to pick up some stickers for her classroom, which Keese, then the chamber\u2019s president, helped with. As the clock neared 5 o\u2019clock, the chamber\u2019s administrator tidied up for the day in the neighboring office \u2014 then she looked out the window. <\/p>\n

\u201cIs that a rocket?\u201d she asked. <\/p>\n

Keese, looking more closely, realized the massive object his administrator had mistaken for a rocket was a demethanizer tower, used for processing natural gas, on the bed of a motionless truck at a railroad crossing. And just beyond it, a freight train rode full-speed in its direction.<\/p>\n

The train struck the lowboy tractor-trailer just seconds later, sending the giant container rolling through a parking lot before it slammed against the chamber\u2019s building and obliterated its brick walls. Keese crawled through the debris amid a plume of smoke and dust, yelling out the names of his coworkers, Marina and Lorena. Once all three found each other, they walked out of the building, covered in debris.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was convinced I was dead,\u201d Keese said. \u201cAs each of those rail cars were banging in, I said, \u2018The next one\u2019s coming in to get me. We\u2019re dead. We\u2019re all dead.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

By the time the three came to, the frenzy of the aftermath had begun to set in. People in nearby downtown trickled out of stores. First responders, police officers, the sheriff and his deputies swarmed the scene. Two train workers were dead. And the busy oil field traffic, unable to drive through the crossing, turned to their only alternative: residential neighborhoods. Within minutes, Pecos had been engulfed in crisis.<\/p>\n

A year after the collision, resident and local government officials said they remain vulnerable to more crashes and deaths.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s worse, these same West Texans spent nearly two decades warning state officials that such incidents were bound to occur \u2014 a premonition that became true last year. <\/p>\n

\"\"Left: A mural on the side of the destroyed Pecos Chamber of Commerce building on March 21. Right: Frank Carrasco, a maintenance worker for the West of the Pecos Museum, hangs tarp on chainlink fence to block the view of the destroyed commerce building from plain view. Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

To be sure, this is only the second train derailment in Pecos since 1973. But the oil business in Pecos has boomed since then. The amount of traffic has ballooned. The local officials who\u2019ve spent the last two decades trying to avoid a major accident like the one on Dec. 18, 2024, said the state should provide them with more support and equip Pecos. They argue the town is a key to the industry that contributes to the state\u2019s wealth through oil and gas production taxes.<\/p>\n

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More specifically, county and city government officials had been campaigning for an alternative bypass, called a relief route, to redirect the spiking industrial traffic. They also appealed to Union Pacific, a railroad company operating roughly 7,700 locomotives across 32,000 miles in the U.S., to consider lowering speed limits and spending less time stopped at the town\u2019s railroad crossing.<\/p>\n

The town hasn\u2019t gotten either concession. Union Pacific maintains that its speed limits adhere to federal regulations. And Texas Department of Transportation officials said the agency is still scouring its $146 billion budget within its 10-year plan to pay for an alternative bypass to alleviate the industrial traffic congestion in town. TxDOT estimates the project to cost $194 million. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been frustrated for a long time because this should have been handled a long time ago,\u201d said Venetta Seals, a City Council member who served as mayor from 2010 to 2019. \u201cSometimes we feel like we\u2019re the redheaded stepchild west of I-35.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OilfieldOilfield traffic crosses over the U.S. Highway 285 railroad crossing, bottom, on March 21 in Pecos. Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

A blessing, curse<\/p>\n

Pecos is an oilfield town of 12,000 people, about 100 miles southwest of Midland. At least 15,000 trucks drive through there daily, City Manager Charles Lino said. That places a tremendous strain on its roads. <\/p>\n

Truckers plow along Interstate 20, which runs east and west, and Highway 285 \u2014 also known as death highway by locals for its high number of vehicle accidents \u2014 which goes north and south. <\/p>\n

Local officials have for years attempted to rein in the frenzied, industrial traffic by passing more than 100 ordinances and codes, including those that govern where truckers can park and on which roads they can drive, Lino said. But the truckers don\u2019t always follow the rules, and the city\u2019s law enforcement isn\u2019t nearly staffed enough to keep up with the traffic. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe oil and gas industry is a blessing to our economy and a curse to our infrastructure,\u201d Lino said. \u201cOur roads are not built for those types of vehicles, and it\u2019s one of the reasons why we try to police as much as we can and keep them off of our residential streets, because they just tear them up.\u201d<\/p>\n

They tried to regulate the train industry as well \u2014 with no luck. In 2017, the city council passed an ordinance reducing the amount of time a train could stop at a railroad crossing to avoid traffic jams. A violation incurs up to $2,000 in fines. Union Pacific, which the city fined four times, did not pay the fees. And although local officials have floated the idea of imposing speed limits, they have no authority to do so.<\/p>\n

A relief route could alleviate much of that pressure, Lino said. <\/p>\n

\"\"Left: Oilfield traffic drives through downtown Pecos along U.S. Highway 285. Right: Charles Lino, Pecos\u2019 city manager, poses for a photo in his office on March 21. Lino took over as the point of contact for response and recovery efforts the night of the Dec. 18, 2024, train derailment and believes that oil and gas companies need to do more to hold their drivers to account. Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear when local officials first asked about a relief route, though some officials point to as far as twenty years ago. A Texas Department of Transportation spokesperson said the agency held the first virtual public hearing in 2021. Increased traffic, the presence of hazardous materials transiting through town and issues with the railroad crossing prompted the discussions, the spokesperson said. <\/p>\n

It is unclear why the project stalled. <\/p>\n

The agency held two additional public hearings in 2025 \u2014 but only after the crash. <\/p>\n

It will take the agency at least another six years before it can start building the road, TxDOT said. And even then, the new road would likely have to cross the train tracks farther east of town. <\/p>\n

The agency, which held a round of public hearings in April, must first find the money, then map out the private property the relief route will pass through and work with landowners to secure that needed land. The agency must also work with utility companies in the area to make adjustments to other infrastructure to accommodate the road. <\/p>\n

The two companies involved in the crash \u2014 Union Pacific and Boss Heavy Haul \u2014 said they were compliant with rules meant to keep residents safe while disputing each other\u2019s account of the collision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe speed of our train, along with the timing of the crossing signal, was in full compliance with federal regulations,\u201d a Union Pacific spokesperson said. \u201cThe crossing, which handles a high volume of truck traffic daily without incident, was also safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boss Heavy Haul pointed to a counterclaim the company filed earlier this month. It said Union Pacific had a history of incidents across Texas. <\/p>\n

Litigation between the two is ongoing. <\/p>\n

The Federal Railroad Administration, which regulates railroads and train companies, did not comment. <\/p>\n

TxDOT is considering eight bypasses <\/p>\n

Pecos and Reeves County are not the first localities to request a relief route. <\/p>\n

Several cities across the state have requested roadway alternatives to alleviate traffic congestion. These proposals, which involve lengthy environmental studies, mapping and land acquisition, can take years to come to fruition \u2014 and on occasion, a town may decide to drop the discussion altogether. There are at least eight relief routes under consideration in TxDOT\u2019s most recent 10-year plan. <\/p>\n

\"\"A lowboy truck hauling a piece of heavy machinery crosses over the U.S. Highway 285 railroad crossing on March 21. Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

In Fredericksburg, for instance, plans for a relief route had begun in the 1980s. According to local media coverage, the Central Texas project was started and stopped due to financial reasons. TxDOT officials began a formal study in 2017, followed by public engagement. In a 2019 report, city and state officials said the city had been \u201cplagued by congestion.\u201d Discussions about the $40 million ceased in 2022, as the city focuses on other transportation projects, a city spokesperson told The Texas Tribune. <\/p>\n

In the Rio Grande Valley, officials said construction for a $240 million relief route would begin this month to alleviate traffic congestion, a project they said had been in the works for at least two decades. <\/p>\n

And in Rogers, north of Austin, officials began discussions for a relief route in 2017. The new road, built to improve traffic mobility and safety, opened on Dec. 3. <\/p>\n

State and local officials agreed that the town desperately needs a relief route. And they\u2019re hoping they don\u2019t have to wait longer than the current six-year timeline.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNational attention in a disaster situation is not anything that a community ever wants,\u201d said Jerry Bullard, emergency management coordinator for Reeves County, referring to the derailment. \u201cBut it shed light on what we\u2019ve been trying to emphasize for a long time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

State Rep. Eddie Morales<\/a>, D-Eagle Pass, represents the city and county, and said the traffic congestion in town \u201cposes significant safety concerns.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cProviding this relief route is essential on numerous fronts to improve the conditions in the city limits and improve safety across the board,\u201d Morales said. \u201cThis has been an issue discussed for well over a decade, it\u2019s past time to make it a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

When that reality will come to fruition remains unclear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy, and give…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[12309,27,9237,29,28],"class_list":["post-93991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-pecos","tag-texas","tag-texas-department-of-transportation","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93991","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=93991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}