By Alexia Finney | Staff Writer

Since coming back to school, many have complained about I-35 construction. But road construction is also challenging drivers on La Salle, and the Waco Metropolitan Planning Organization has plans to bring the busy street back into shape — and keep pedestrians and drivers safe.

Students and Wacoans expressed safety concerns over La Salle Avenue construction, particularly at the intersection of La Salle Avenue and 3rd Street. In the summer, the city installed a stoplight that has yet to be activated, but a four-way stop with stop signs has been installed. Deputy Project Manager Nina Ndichu said they took these concerns into consideration when looking into safety features.

“We want drivers, walking, biking, transit users, everyone who uses any corridor to feel safe and get the crash numbers to zero,” Ndichu said.

The Waco Metropolitan Planning Organization sat under its green tent on Wednesday afternoon, anticipating student feedback on Waco street safety. The organization visited to gain feedback for project “Six to Fix.” The project aims to test creative, low-cost safety improvements at six locations across Waco.

As stated on the Waco Metropolitan Planning Organization’s website, “The purpose of the project is to demonstrate innovative safety strategies and gather insight and community feedback from each location.”

Ndichu said her time on campus was more focused on receiving good feedback on Waco’s road safety than explaining the project to students.

“We are actually not here to tell students anything. We’re here to listen to the students because this is a public engagement process and they’re the users of the roads,” Ndichu said.
”We’re just here to listen and show them our concept.”

Ndichu said most people aren’t aware Waco’s road accidents mostly involve pedestrians, not vehicles. Additionally, Ndichu said her organization’s goal is to eliminate those risks on the road.

To accomplish the renovations, Ndichu said the organization’s budget is $300,000 for all six locations.

Another project manager for the organization Daniela Gallegos said construction will begin during the fall semester.

“We will begin installation in October, and they will be up for a year, and then we will get feedback from those,” Gallegos said. “We will collect the data before, during and after.”

The organization will collect behavioral data to then give to policymakers to decide how to move forward with safety installations.

“We’re just the consultants and the designers, not the engineers,” Ndichu said. “We’ll come and collect the data, saying, ‘This is how people are behaving now.’” 


Gallegos said she is glad Waco’s road safety is gaining recognition and funding from the Waco Metropolitan Planning Organization’s policy board and Waco’s city officials.

“Seeing our policymakers and decision makers take into consideration these roads that are highly used … it’s good to see their concern,” Gallegos said.

Gallegos said some students approached the tent with personal anecdotes of pedestrian safety.

“[A girl] came in, and we asked her if she’d ever ridden on La Salle Avenue,” Gallegos said. “She did mention that she almost got hit riding her bike on La Salle.”

Ndichu said the organization’s results here in Waco will dictate how future road safety will be examined and implemented.

“Whatever happens in these different locations, we will replicate,” Ndichu said.