ODESSA, Texas — A deadly crash shut down part of Faudree Road for hours last Saturday. It's not uncommon for police to do, but closing that road meant cutting off all access to the neighborhood of Parks Bell Ranch.
NewsWest 9 spoke to Alan Armesto, who resides in near the area. He said the residents were not able to return to their home for hours.
"In general, when accidents do happen it's tragic," said Armesto. "The backside of that is that it left people, for hours, not being able to get out of the neighborhood or come into the neighborhood."
Armesto said he was one of those people Saturday evening that was inside the neighborhood. He said people in the community are pleading for alternative routes.
"An alternative route in general is something that needs to be there as a contingency in the event that a road happens to close for whatever reason it may be," said Armesto.
According to city leaders, an alternative route was offered Saturday night.
"What OPD did is direct people to the East of Yukon which is currently under construction," said Hal Feldman, Traffic Engineer for the City of Odessa. "Yukon does not currently connect to 191 since there is a section of roadway missing."
Feldman said the issues around the Faudree area are being caused by the growth of the community.
"With that whole Parks Bell Ranch area, the neighborhood happened before the roadway network," said Feldman. "We are trying to catch up and build the roadway system that can handle all of those residents' traffic."
Feldman told NewsWest 9 Yukon is expected to open in about five weeks, but that the construction is not over. Work will be done on Faudree Road over the next two years.