TYLER, Texas (KLTV) -East Texans gathered in Longview Tuesday for an update on a proposed expansion to Toll 49, but for one family, the discussion is also about safety on the road as it exists today.

Danielle Bailey is urging leaders to make urgent safety upgrades before any expansion after her daughter, 21-year-old Alex Bailey, was killed in December 2025 in a head-on crash on Toll 49."This was the car I taught her how to drive in... and that she died in," Bailey said.

Mother urges Toll 49 safety before expansionBailey said troopers told her family the crash may not have been fatal if there had been a physical barrier separating traffic."The troopers told us after her accident that if there had been a physical barrier, a median of some kind, that it likely would have saved her life," she said.