The Bandera County Commissioners Court on Thursday unanimously approved a resolution calling for safety improvements on Texas 46, citing rising traffic volumes and a history of fatal crashes along the corridor.
Resolution No. 26-0409-08 requests that the Texas Department of Transportation provide a formal response outlining planned improvements, including definite timelines and a commitment to prioritize the project within the agency’s San Antonio district.
The resolution states that SH 46 is “totally inadequate to handle the volume of traffic” between State Highway 16 and Interstate 10 in Bandera and Kendall counties and notes that previous requests to TxDOT have not resulted in a firm timeline for improvements.
County officials emphasized safety concerns in the document, pointing to multiple fatalities and severe crashes along the roadway.
The resolution concludes with a statement underscoring the urgency of the issue: “Too many lives have been lost.”
According to crash data from TxDOT’s Traffic Safety Division covering the SH 46 West corridor between SH 16 and I-10 from 2016 through March 2026, there have been 550 reported crashes, including 10 fatal crashes resulting in 13 deaths, with an additional 44 people seriously injured.
More than half of the fatalities — eight of 13 — involved head-on collisions, and 10 of the 13 deaths occurred within the past five years.
Among those killed were members of a Bandera County family in an October 2024 crash and a 21-year-old Bandera man in a March 24, 2026, collision.
TxDOT data also identifies SH 46 West as the highest-traffic rural roadway in Bandera County, with a designated crash-density hotspot along the corridor.
Current planned improvements through 2029 include repaving and the addition of turn lanes, but do not include a center median.
The resolution was signed April 9 by County Judge Richard A. Evans and Commissioners Troy W. Konvicka, Robert A. Harris and Jack U. Moseley, and bears the official seal of Bandera County.
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