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Mother urges committee to name highway stretch after 9-year-old killed in head-on crash; committee advances bill
Summary
Marissa Mullins testified in support of House Bill 24 57, which would designate a portion of US Highway 287 the “Molly Mullins Memorial Mile.” She said safety improvements made after her daughter’s death have stopped major crashes at that location.
The Senate Committee on Transportation heard emotional testimony and advanced House Bill 24 57, which would designate a portion of U.S. Highway 287 in Wilbarger County as the Molly Mullins Memorial Mile.
Marissa Mullins, the child’s mother, told the committee that her 9-year-old daughter Molly was killed on March 16, 2024, when a driver crossed a grassy median and struck the family’s vehicle. “My beautiful 9 year old daughter, Molly, who loved pink, was killed,” Mullins said. She described months in the intensive-care unit and the family’s effort to turn grief into change.
Mullins told the committee that, from 2020 to 2024, there were 78 crossover accidents at that exact spot and seven fatalities; those figures came up in her testimony as part of the family’s discussions with TxDOT. She said the Mullins family worked with TxDOT to replace cable barriers with concrete barriers and that Sheriff Brian Fritz reported “there have been no major accidents at that spot” since that replacement.
Senator Parker, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, described the designation as an honorary memorial recognizing Molly’s life and the family’s push for safety. He told the committee the naming “does not affect existing roadway names or other designations.”
After the testimony, the committee reported the bill favorably to the full Senate and placed it on the local uncontested calendar. Several law-enforcement and first-responder organizations registered support and were placed in the record.
What was said about safety: Mullins credited the family’s partnership with TxDOT for replacing cable barriers with concrete barriers at the site, and she said the trooper investigating the crash informed her that construction was begun in response to the crash history at the location. The sponsor and witnesses framed the highway designation as an honorary memorial and a reminder about roadway safety.
