Fourth of July: Dallas adds road closures, celebratory gunfire ban

This Fourth of July weekend, the Dallas Police Department will try a new strategy to increase safety and stop traffic gridlock across the city.The need for change was clear after drivers parked directly on the highway to watch fireworks for New Year's Eve, snarling traffic and preventing emergency vehicles from moving around.Illegal Fireworks and Random Gunfire ConcernsDallas police will put more officers in some neighborhoods where there are safety concerns, rolling out a plan to crack down on celebratory gunfire. The clear message from officials is, "Don't do it."There have been more than 12,000 calls for random gunfire in Dallas this year alone. Between July 1 and July 5 of last year, there were over 5,700 calls for random gunfire.Many of those calls came from the Highland Hills area in Oak Cliff. Video from last Fourth of July shows a strip center in the 3500 block of Simpson Stuart Road at Bonnie View Road where fireworks – which are illegal in the city – could be seen exploding i