More lanes will be contributed to a harmful stretch of roadway near Tesla

AUSTIN (KXAN) - - A harmful stretch of roadway in a part of town that has experienced big growth, will be getting major safety improvements this year. KXAN Traffic Anchor, Erica Brennes spoke to a man who lives off FM 973, near the Tesla Gigafactory.

" It's more common than it should be. I think we absolutely require more traffic patterns that will assist ease a few of that mess," Brad Justice lives in a southeast Austin neighborhood near the Tesla factory off FM 973, "I check the traffic every day because I never know which way is gon na be more efficient to get to work and I need to exist at a specific time."

Today a cars and truck hit and killed a person walking along FM 973, not far from Brad's neighborhood.
Another crash this week also triggered major hold-ups, "Some people were attempting to simply get to the airport, which is normally a five-minute drive that was taken an hour and a half."

There are strategies in the works to help make it safer for drivers. In October, TxDOT will start construction of an improvement task for FM 973 between FM 969 and Thyone Drive.
They're going to add a lane in each instructions and a devoted center turn lane.

The work is expected to cost nearly $23 million.