Posted: Fri, 14 Aug 2009 07:51 AM - 8,394 Readers

By: Bob Robuck

Travis County Thursday put up new signs and markings near the end of Quinlan Park Road, which leads up to the Lake Austin boat ramp.

Those signs and markings weren't there the day before.

News 8 Austin Wednesday reported about a speed limit sign that partially hid one of only two signs that warn drivers on the road that a boat ramp is approaching.

By Thursday afternoon, the county removed the hidden sign and put a new one 200 feet away from the speed limit sign.

That's just one of the issues News 8 Austin pointed out to Travis County Parks District Manager Daniel Perry in its Wednesday story.

At that time, he didn't have a set plan to make changes.

"We don't have a lot of hard ideas being brought forth from the traffic engineers yet. They're still studying the situation," Perry said Wednesday.

Apparently, the engineers studied fast. In addition to the sign changes Thursday, the county also put in new road reflectors on both the road and ramp, repainted stripes that veer drivers away from the ramp, and Travis County Parks also replaced temporary barricades with permanent detours.

The tar used to put in the markers was still so wet that a friend wrote Lucia Rodriguez's name in it. Rodriguez died after she drove off the ramp into Lake Austin last week.

"It's a day late and a dollar short. And what really really bothers me about this ... Lucia didn't have to die," friend Pamela Sears said.

News 8 Austin Wednesday pointed out to the county that other near-deaths happened at the boat ramp. Just two months before Rodriguez's death, the driver of a car also mistakenly barreled into the lake. That driver survived.

Sears said the county's actions are not enough for her.

"What they've done is not enough," she said. "It was a quick and easy job. You know, put up some reflectors, veer the road again, repaint it so it looks like it's veering off and not leading you into the water. It's not enough."

Sears wants the county to publicly admit its errors. It may have inadvertently done that by making the quick changes.

Calls to Travis County Parks to find out why there was such a quick fix and if there are any more changes planned have not yet been returned.

*  Story Contributed by: Bob Robuck