Anyone that lives, drives , bikes or walks on River Road knows that there are a lot more people that go 45-50mph than go 25mph which is the posted speed limit. Twenty-five does seem slow but there is a reason that it is set at this limit. From where you turn onto River Road ( just past the Sugar Shack) until you get to the stop sign at Wayside, it is almost exactly one mile. There are no sidewalks and in some areas very little shoulder to walk. In fact, in that one mile stretch, there is the blind curve on the hill past Creekside and the single lane bridge crossing Wilson Creek where there is no room beside the road whatsoever.
In the last two days walking my dog I have seen cars cross the Wilson Creek bridge going at least 45 miles an hour and have seen a car pass another car that was already speeding. Very, very few cars were going even close the speed limit. With the traffic downtown, more and more people are entering the city by going the “back way” on 1492 and River Road.
I realize a lot of people get upset with people “gawking” and going too slow in town but this is not the case here. I’m asking our citizens and visitors to please slow down and go the speed limit for that very short distance before we have an unfortunate accident.
I would also like to see the city to provide traffic enforcement occasionally on River Road. I see people speeding everyday on River Road and have never seen radar enforcement. This is not a criticism of law enforcement. I think they do an incredible job doing what we ask them to do to protect our citizens and property. I just think controlling speeding on River Road should also be included in their duties. I have heard in the past that traffic enforcement guidelines were included in bids when securing law enforcement services for Wimberley and maybe we should do that again.
So, sorry for the rant, but next time you go down River Road I hope you’ll slow down, watch out for deer, walkers and bikers and enjoy the beautiful river scenery. It will only take you 144 seconds to travel that mile at 25 miles per hour.
Greg Webb
