06:02 PM CST on Thursday, March 23, 2006

By Jeremy Desel / 11 News

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There is a new freeway ramp that drivers claim has a big blind spot and is dangerous.

KHOU-TV

The new Spur 527 on-ramp has some drivers confused and even scared.

It's been a long time since drivers traveled Spur 527 and the ramp at Milam and West Alabama.

"Less traffic. Yes. I am very relieved," said driver Whitney Guevera.

The ramp to Spur 527 from Milam downtown is now open, but not without some trouble.

"A little confused. This lane goes left and this lane looks like it goes to the right. I don't know," said driver Karen Slaughter.

It is a tough merge as drivers learn the new intersection causing some drivers on the right to cut in to get on the ramp.

Up above is tough too. A sound wall built to protect the nearby neighborhood makes it difficult for merging drivers to see each other, even causing one driver to yell to 11 News, "This is dangerous".

Another called it a "suicide merge".

"It looks a little bit different than what they are used to," said Quincy Allen, TxDOT.

Quincy Allen is the TXDOT Project engineer for the Spur 527.

In the 10 days the ramp has been open he has heard the complaints, which was enough to get him to reevaluate.

"Some folks it appeared that you had to make an immediate merge. So we put the stripe there to improve that merge," he said.

It's a 100-foot stripe aimed at aiming drivers in the right direction.

"It's really difficult to figure out where you are going anymore," said one driver.

But the biggest problem says TXDOT isn't the signs, or the paint, or the wall, but drivers who are already on the spur.

"Looking at this it looks maybe like a freeway. But the speed limit on the spur in this location is 35 miles an hour."

The merge is one big reason for that.