Updated at 8 p.m. 1/8/19 to include a comment from Sarah Lamb, with Lakewood Citizens for Responsible Traffic.

The majority — and not the loudest, sometimes misinformed voices — has won the day in the makeover of the death-defying East Dallas intersection of Gaston Avenue, Garland Road and Grand Avenue.

I learned Tuesday that the verdict is in on this $9.4 million gateway to White Rock Lake and the Dallas Arboretum: The Texas Department of Transportation is moving forward with its preferred option of the “reverse T.”

TxDOT had worked with East Dallas residents, businesses and elected officials since 2016 on the reconstruction of the infamous “you yield, no you yield” intersection, an outdated tangle of short-cycle lights, confusing traffic signs and bizarre merges.

As a Hollywood-Santa Monica resident, I regularly become part of a nerves-of-steel game of vehicular chicken that the 3G intersection forces on drivers. And only the most daring pedestrian would try to cross the road, despite the growing number of places to eat, drink and shop on either side of Garland-Grand.

But the reverse T plan was always the option that made the most sense — despite some neighbors’ dogmatic belief that it will funnel more traffic onto Gaston. The reverse T plan calls for traffic lights for all directions — finally, everyone has to stop. On paper, at least, it’s pedestrian- and bike-friendly, with good crosswalks and landscaping.

State Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas, one of the elected leaders long involved in this redo, got the good news just before going onto the House floor for the convening of the new legislative session. He expressed understandable relief that we are a big step closer to a fix for this massive traffic mess.

The reverse T option is the one that the Texas Department of Transportation is moving forward with in East Dallas this year. (Texas Department of Transportation)

“With all of the public comments received and processed, I’m glad that the Texas Department of Transportation can now move forward with improving one of the most dangerous and inefficient intersections in all of Dallas,” Johnson told me from Austin.

Given the headaches involved with this project, TxDOT probably wishes it wasn’t in charge. But the department is in the driver’s seat because Garland-Grand is also State Highway 78, providing a connection to Interstate 30.

After the last of TxDOT’s five public meetings — this one a hearing in mid-November — a three-week public response period produced a final flurry of opinion. When TxDOT tallied the 1,040 comment forms, the results showed 593 supported the preferred option, 398 opposed it, two responded “no build” and the remainder didn’t express a preference.

In addition, petitions with roughly the same number of signatures were submitted by various sides; each of those counted as one comment.

Even though the comments tipped toward the reverse T option, TxDOT spokeswoman Michelle Raglon emphasized to me that the public comments weren’t a formal vote. “We listened to all sides and made the best possible decision based on all factors, including engineering and environmental," she said.

With the environmental analysis complete and a letter of support from the city of Dallas in place, now comes land acquisition. Construction is expected to begin no later than 2020.

Vehicles drive through the East Grand intersection of Grand Avenue, Garland Road and Gaston Avenue in late November. (Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer)

This is the right decision not just for drivers but for pedestrians and bikers, many of whom use these roads to reach White Rock Lake and the Dallas Arboretum.

“I’m glad that we slowed down the process so that everyone had a voice,” said Dallas City Council member Mark Clayton, whose district is one of three that surround the intersection. “In the end, the preferred option that the community has always supported still won out.”

By no means will this news about the so-called 3G intersection be well-received by everyone. While most East Dallas residents and commuters agree a fix has been needed for decades, how best to rebuild the interchange has sparked testy disagreements.

The loudest opposition to the reverse T is the social media-driven group Lakewood Citizens for Responsible Traffic, which worries that the reverse T will push additional traffic onto Gaston.

Sarah Lamb, co-founder of the coalition, told me Tuesday night that she still believes modifications will be made to address her group's concerns. "We hope that this will allow all of our neighborhoods to come together on this intersection redesign."

Some Gaston-area residents likely will remain convinced that the street will become glutted with more traffic because the new configuration requires that southbound traffic on Garland Road make a left turn to continue onto Grand.

But that argument is a head-scratcher. Cars will move along the path that the drivers want to go, not magically be pulled off course by the redo. Common sense, with an assist from traffic reports and navigation apps, will win out every time.

And consider that southbound traffic currently careens around a curve unimpeded by even a stoplight onto Gaston.

Tim Hopkins, a civil engineer who lives in the area, said something similar as he complimented TxDOT at the November meeting for "trying to do some very honest work on this" without steering traffic to any of the neighborhoods. "To assume you can drastically change how traffic flows today is flawed.”

TxDOT deserves extra credit on the 3G work — it went way, way beyond what a process such as this one normally involves. After all, we are talking about an intersection improvement project — an item that would rarely get anywhere near the time and energy put into the 3G.

The most recent 1,000-plus comments proved to be more of a referendum on the plan than suggestions for tweaks. The results reflect what many of us suspected all along — the noisiest voices weren’t the majority.

This has been a bruising process, one that often stooped to insults and personal innuendo. Too many times, the first opinion on social media became the fact of the day. Clayton, who showed up for every public meeting, spent a lot of time sorting out truth from fiction with residents.

But in the end, the facts won, and the community has spoken. Now we can all look forward to the end of this dangerous game of chicken and a new entryway to East Dallas’ greatest assets.