By Traci Chapman
Published on June 26, 2008

Vehicle counts released by Mustang city officials confirm what residents fighting traffic on city streets already know — there are more cars on local roads than ever before.

“The numbers have definitely jumped,” Ward 1 Councilman Jay Adams said. “Although a lot of it is concentrated on the east side of the city, there are significant increases all along the state Highway 152 corridor.”

A comparison between April 2006 counts and the data taken May 21 show the biggest increase occurring on state Highway 152 between Sara and Morgan roads, just west of North Carol Terrace. Meters counted 15,500 cars at that point in 2006; this year, that number jumped to 20,152, a 4,652 increase.

Adams said 2008 numbers are raw data and will go down slightly, but not by any significant amount.

“The data is adjusted, and seasonal averages are calculated into those numbers, so it will decrease a little, but not enough to change the overall picture,” he said.

A more established area — the Heights — saw the next highest jump in traffic counts. Along state Highway 152 between Heights and South Silver drives, counts jumped from 19,975 in 2006 to 21,924 in 2008. However, Adams said, further west down state Highway 152, between Czech Hall and Clear Springs roads, the increase was only 697 — from 17,811 to 18,508 for the two-year time span. That meter posted the smallest increase within the city limits.

According to the 2008 figures, another count increase occurred south of state Highway 152 on Sara Road, between South Juniper Lane and the railroad tracks. That increase — 1,632 cars between the two reporting periods — probably resulted from new homes built in the Castlerock Addition, Adams said.

“We have a number of new homes down in that area, and that will only increase now that Lowes has come in,” he said.

North of the city, along Mustang Road just north of SW 59th Street, the numbers were not as steep. Totals increased by 1,082 at that location, from 17,345 in 2006 to 18,427 in 2008.

Mustang Police Chief Monte James said accidents in the city increased 23 percent from 2006 to 2007.

“We had 236 accidents in 2006 and 292 in 2007,” he said. “It’s just inevitable — when you have more traffic, you’re going to have more accidents.”