Traffic began to flow differently on U.S. Highway 69 and on F.M. 344 in Bullard beginning Tuesday, April 20.

Through traffic on U.S. Highway 69 will be able to use the overpass at F.M. 344 for the first time, meaning that traffic on F.M. 344 will no longer have to stop at the intersection.

Traffic entering U.S. Highway 69 from F.M. 344 will merge with the traffic coming off the overpass, and traffic exiting U.S. Highway 69 in either direction will have to stop at F.M. 344.

“Traffic switches like this require everyone to pay attention even more than they would normally,” said Larry Krantz, TxDOT public information officer. “But with the exception of the ‘Texas Turnarounds’ that haven’t been finished yet, this is the way traffic will flow through this interchange from now on.” Traffic on U.S. Highway 69 will still be limited to one lane going over the overpass while crews apply the final surface, and the work zone speed limit remains 45 mph. The project is scheduled for completion this summer. “We’re almost to the finish line on this project,” Krantz said. “The public’s been great during construction.”

Also, the week of April 19- 23 is National Work Zone Awareness Week.

Between 2003-2008, the Tyler District had 1,821 total crashes in work zones, including 34 fatalities. Those numbers are increasing each of the past three years, from 300 to 463 to 490, and 2 to 9 to 14 respectively.

That’s one work zone crash every 29 hours, and one fatality every 66 days.

In 2008, the Tyler District accounted for eight percent of all the work-zone fatalities, while registering only 2.5 percent of the crashes.