This Is Hands Down The Most Unsafe Road In Amarillo

I spent my entire weekend out at the ballfields this weekend watching my boys play in Amarillo's biggest youth baseball tourney of the season. One was out at Rick Klein, one out at Southeast. In other words, we did a lot of driving this weekend.

Recently, my family and I moved and now live on the opposite end of town from where we were. Because of this, we get to take a different route to the fields than we used to.

Previously, we would roll down I-40, hop off at Grand St and come in to Rick Klein from that direction. Now, our best route is to hop on Loop 335 and shoot down Grand St that way. To be honest, I hadn't ever really traveled down Grand St from that direction.

Looking back, it was January when we had that fatal accident that killed three people. Again, I reiterate, a huge part of what played into that accident was the fact that one of the drivers was traveling at 100 mph. After driving that stretch numerous times this weekend, I can see how they lost control of their car at that rate of speed.

The posted speed limit there is 50 mph, and if I'm being honest, I didn't feel safe going that fast. The road is in such bad condition that even at the speed limit I was struggling to keep the car in a straight line without bouncing into the other lane.

Yes, I said bouncing. The road is COMPLETELY uneven, has more potholes than any other road in Amarillo, and is just flat out unsafe. If you've driven it, you know exactly what I'm talking about, so I don't need to go into much more detail.

I understand that the stretch of Grand St there is the responsibility of two parties. I get that neither one wants to have to pay for what isn't theirs, and I also understand how it may not be a priority for whoever owns the messed up stretch of it. Maybe they feel it doesn't get traveled enough to warrant the funds needed to repair it.

Well no matter how much that stretch is traveled, and it's more than they probably think it is, it's going to cause accidents even at the posted speed limit of 50 mph. I'm a cautious driver, never travel over the speed limit, and I wanted to slow down because of how much it was throwing my car.

The amount of potholes, the depth of the dips, and the sheer unevenness of the road makes it flat out dangerous. All it takes is one pothole or big dip to send a car over to the other lane, and cause yet another head-on collision.

So this is my plea to the county and city to come together for the people of Amarillo, and fix this stretch of road. Go ahead, drive down it yourself and tell me it's safe. I dare you. Come together for the city you're supposed to be serving and taking care of. Don't let another accident or death occur because you didn't want to pay to restore and fix it.

I promise you, the repairs are cheaper than someone's life.