On Tuesday morning, a 74-year-old woman trying to cross South General McMullen Drive near Wallace Street was struck by a southbound pickup and pinned underneath it before emergency crews could pull her out. Medics rushed her to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. San Antonio police said they do not expect charges in the case, though investigators stayed on scene for hours. The crash, on an eight-lane stretch of roadway near an H-E-B on the West Side, has quickly renewed scrutiny of a corridor many neighbors say has felt dangerous for years.
Neighbors Say Drivers Do Not Stop
Local business owners and residents say the crosswalk where the woman was hit has long been a trouble spot. “If I know anybody crossing the street, I warn them,” La Fe Hierberia owner James Calvillo told KSAT. Several neighbors echoed his concern that drivers often fail to yield on the wide, fast-moving road, leaving people on foot to gamble their timing against heavy traffic.
High-Injury Corridor With A Troubling Crash History
The city already labels a 1.9-mile stretch of South General McMullen as part of its High-Injury Network, according to the city’s High-Injury Network map. Planners base that designation on state collision records and local counts. The Texas Department of Transportation maintains the crash records in its statewide database, detailed on the Texas Department of Transportation website.
Residents say the ingredients for trouble are obvious: very wide travel lanes, long crossing distances and limited pedestrian infrastructure. The result, they argue, has been a pattern of crashes in the corridor that felt like a matter of when, not if, something serious would happen again.
Planned Fixes And A Federal Grant Push
City officials have applied for roughly $1 million in federal Highway Safety Improvement Program funding to pay for safety work along South General McMullen between Commerce Street and U.S. 90. The crossing at Wallace Street, where the 74-year-old woman was hit, is on the city’s immediate list for upgrades. Crash records maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation show eight crashes at or near that intersection since 2021.
Proposed fixes include new sidewalks, ADA-accessible ramps and high-visibility striping. The city also plans to upgrade traffic signals with “intelligent transportation system” technology that could include pedestrian detection. Engineers will review the intersection for leading pedestrian intervals, which give people in the crosswalk a head start before turning drivers get a green light. Police have said they do not expect charges in the recent crash, a decision that has only sharpened calls from neighbors to focus on the street design itself.
Part Of A Bigger Street-Safety Push
The renewed focus on this crossing comes as San Antonio expands its Vision Zero work and chases federal and local funding to reduce pedestrian injuries citywide. The city’s capital plan outlines investments in intelligent traffic systems and sidewalk programs that projects like the General McMullen upgrades can plug into, according to the adopted city capital budget. In recent years, the municipality has also applied for and received corridor safety grants tied to federal Safe Streets initiatives.
Any physical changes at South General McMullen and Wallace will depend on whether the Highway Safety Improvement Program application is approved, along with the city’s engineering design and construction schedule. Neighbors say they want the fixes sooner rather than later and, until they see new concrete and fresh striping, they plan to keep warning anyone who dares to cross that stretch of road.
