Grieving Montgomery Co. family 'frustrated' over pace of traffic light installation

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- Traffic lights have been at the intersection of FM 149 and Spur 149 in Montgomery County for a year, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.

That should be good news for one family, but Zachary Cook told ABC13 they aren't effective because all they do is flash.

"It's just crazy that there's no action being taken on it," he said.

Zachary Cook lost his grandmother, Beverly Cook, in July 2022 after she was involved in a vehicular crash at the location. She died from her injuries days after it took place, which prompted her son to jump into action.

"I realized we needed a light here," Marcus Cook told ABC13 in August 2022.

He fought to make that happen, but the family says they were promised everything would be finished by the end of that year.

So why are the lights just flashing?

TxDOT sent ABC13 a statement saying they were waiting on BNSF Railway to synchronize their railroad signals with the lights.

There are railroad tracks near the intersection.

BNSF also sent a statement stating that they came to an agreement with TxDOT in July that would allow that synchronization to happen.

Both parties said everything should be fully operational by mid-October.

Zachary Cook said he's optimistic but is taking a wait-and-see approach until everything is completed.

"This is the intersection that prevented my grandma from seeing me get married," he said. "We just want this to be expedited so families don't have to deal with this anymore."

BNSF said this is all part of the process and that things are "on schedule."

They also said they "understand the frustration" over the time it is taking to finish the entire project.

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