SAN ANTONIO – After months of reporting and community pressure, change has come to one Southeast Side road.
Neighbors have told KSAT repeatedly about safety concerns on Southeast Military Drive between Old Corpus Christi Road and South Presa Street. Just three months ago, two people, including a pregnant woman, were hit and killed while trying to cross the street.
Now, the city and VIA have completed improvements.
“We did it,” Jesse Espitia said. “I’m really thrilled that after almost three months since my sister passed, we finally got better safety measures out here with pedestrians.”
Jeanette Espitia and her unborn child, Jai Jai, died after trying to cross Southeast Military Drive at the end of August. She was eight months pregnant when she was hit and killed, and she left behind three kids.
One week after her death, Noah Patterson was hit and killed just feet away in the same corridor.
KSAT spoke to Jesse Espitia in September. He began leading a community effort to fight for pedestrian improvements.
The first change was seen the week of Oct. 6, when VIA moved its bus stop closer to the crosswalk. The City of San Antonio finished its project adding a red light to the crosswalk on Nov. 13.
“This really was a community effort,” District 3 Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran said. “We were able to push and really light a fire under the stakeholders to get this moving.”
Viagran said three months for a construction project in the city is fast. She said Espitia’s family being so vocal and KSAT’s reporting is part of the reason why.
Maj. Gen. Juan Ayala, the interim director of Public Works, said he wants to complete more of these projects across the city.
“This was something that was a tragedy, and we’re going to prevent them,” Ayala said.
Catherine Hernandez, the city’s director of transportation, said neighborhoods with similar problems can contact 311 to get help.
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