Safety lane installed at Walmart on Sawdust Road

THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- Montgomery County Precinct 3 construction crews completed the concrete left-turn lane in front of the Walmart Superstore on Sawdust Road and the Sawdust Road Business Park. This eliminated what is often referred to, for good reason, as the ‘suicide lane,’ which was reported to have been the scene of numerous accidents.

The concrete median prohibits traffic exiting Business Park from crossing two west-bound lanes to turn left. Traffic moving west-bound, pulling into Walmart’s second entrance, will still have to cross two east-bound lanes, which would have been safer to perform one block further back at an intersection controlled by a 4-way traffic light. Traffic leaving Walmart from the entrance controlled by a stop sign, will no longer be able to exit west.

Controlling the second entrance with a traffic light was proposed, but aside from the approximate $25,000 to install a traffic light, it would place the two lights less than a city block apart. The Commissioner’s office confirmed that the cost of the concrete lane, minus the labor, was $3,000. Within the next year, traffic patterns in south Montgomery County will grow, possibly exponentially. It will be essential to keep traffic moving as opposed to creating more stoppages.

Business owner Ann Engelbrecht of Sprout Fine Floral Concepts offered her point of view.

“The Commissioner came by and spoke with me, and said over 20 accidents have occurred in front of the business park last year,” said Engelbrecht. “Fortunately no one was killed, but one would have been one too many. It’s not that much of an inconvenience to go another block further west, and turn around at the divide in the esplanade.”

The concrete lane has minimized some of the hazard negotiating a high-traffic area, but as previously detailed in the second paragraph, risks still exist pulling in and out of the second entrance of Walmart controlled by the stop sign. Motorists are encouraged to proceed with caution and yield when necessary.