FREEPORT, Fla. (WMBB) — Residents of Walton County are getting a highly sought-after traffic light at the intersection of Highway 331 and Business Road 331 in Freeport.
The intersection has been the site of a lot of wrecks, some fatal.
“There was a parent and in 2020, I believe, lost her daughter and a boyfriend at that same intersection,” Walton County resident Dan Curry said.
Most recently, first-grade teacher Lexy Curry was thrown over 100 yards after being struck while on her way to work.
“I guess the other car that hit her what had happened he said he noticed her nosing out and thought she was on to stop and she didn’t so he hit her right in the driver’s side,” Dan Curry said.
Nearly two weeks later she’s still hospitalized and relying on a ventilator to help her breathe.
Her father, Dan Curry, has used the accident as a springboard for change.
“It should have been thought about ten years ago, 12 years ago, when that road was widened,” Curry said. “Not after three or four deaths and so many accidents.”
During Tuesday’s Walton County Commission meeting, officials announced a traffic light would be going up.
“They determined that a signal was warranted and D.O.T. went through that process to I think it was a pushbutton type contract where they sent it out to one of their consultants for design. And that design was completed here in the last month or so,” Walton County Public Works Engineer Chance Powell said.
Powell said despite the progress the Florida Department of Transportation still needs to have a projected completion date.
“Construction won’t actually begin for probably six to eight months, and that’s to the procurement of the signal equipment now,” Powell said.
Curry said he’s pleased a traffic light is being put up and is confident it will save many lives.
