The City of Midland's Transportation Division has released its 2015 Traffic Crash Report, which contains data regarding traffic crashes that occurred on public roadways last calendar year. The report also includes traffic counts from throughout the year at various intersections and locations across the city.
Transportation officials saw the following trends in 2015:
• The total number of crashes in the City of Midland decreased 10 percent, from 4,013 in 2014 to 3,602 in 2015. This is after officials saw a 14 increase from 2013 to 2014.
• Both the number of fatalities and injuries due to accidents decreased from 2014 to 2015, with a 60 percent decrease in fatalities on city roads and a slight decrease in injuries, from 931 to 914. There were 10 traffic fatalities on city roads in 2015 compared to 23 in 2014.
• Fairgrounds Road at the Loop 250 south service road had the highest number of crashes out of any intersection in the city, with 23 reported crashes in 2015. The City of Midland is preparing plans for the construction of a traffic signal at this intersection and working with TxDOT to identify funding for the project in order to continue with a timeline. Permian Basin MPO has also identified extending, and therefore elevating, the main Loop 250 lanes over Fairgrounds Road as its highest priority project for potential federal funding in the organization’s 25-year plan. The total estimated cost for this project is $16.6 million.
• Overall traffic volume counts taken in 2015 are nearly identical to 2014 counts taken throughout the city. These counts are taken in the first half of each year.
Traffic volumes provided in the annual crash report typically represent one 24-hour period of data collection that occurred during that year. Due to the variations in daily traffic patterns, great caution should be exercised in determining trends by comparing counts between multiple years at any one location.
City officials will continue to study and monitor all intersections listed in the 2015 Annual Traffic Crash Report and implement any changes or additions to existing traffic control devices or intersection geometrics as necessary.
###Media Contact: Public Information Officer Sara Bustilloz