Austinite Joshua Mendez filed a lawsuit yesterday against Travis County, the City of Pflugerville, and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) regarding a single-car accident that took place last year.
The lawsuit states that in June of 2015 Mendez was driving on Weiss Lane approaching a bridge over Wilbarger Creek, and did not realize that the two lane road turned narrowed to one lane over the bridge. According to the TxDOT crash report, Mendez’s “front left bumper hit the concrete lip on the bridge, causing the vehicle to do a barrel roll off the bridge and into the embankment.”
Mendez suffered fractured ribs, spinal injuries, and a lacerated tongue due to the crash.
The lawsuit states that the warning sign for the bridge was overgrown with brush, and that there are no warning signs mentioning the lack of guardrails or the step drop into the creek below. Residents nearby also stated that the bridge is dangerous, and some expressed worries that with a recent increase in traffic, more safety measures are necessary.