Tag Archives: TxDOT

local news

Xeriscaping … that’s the answer

EL PASO, Texas — I am in the mood to follow up on an earlier blog post relating to the terrible appearance of Amarillo’s freeway interchange.

I have a one-word potential solution: xeriscaping.

My wife and I have seen it in this city, where water is even rarer than it is in the Texas Panhandle. Interstate 10 and U.S. 54 come together in the middle of the city. We proceeded north on U.S. 54 and noticed that the xeriscape technique used to beautify the highway continued to the edge of the city.

Amarillo mayoral candidate Ginger Nelson has declared highway right-of-way appearance to be among her signature issues. She said she plans to “develop a plan for annual and long-term repairs and maintenance of streets, as well as the construction of new streets as the city grows.”

This isn’t rocket science. We ain’t reinventing the wheel. There’s not much genius required to provide Amarillo a better appearance to passersby who motor through the city en route to points hither and yon.

My wife were two of those passengers who blew through El Paso. We noticed right away the attractiveness of the right-of-way. We took that first impression with us, and we plan to remember it every single time we drive through Amarillo’s Interstate 40/27 interchange, which contains festering weeds and little else.

Xeriscaping can be done with virtually zero water use.

We live in a semi-arid climate, yes? If it’s too costly to maintain a right-of-way with greenery, then use tons of gravel and some sparse vegetation to dress it up.

It works in El Paso. It can work in Amarillo.

https://highplainsblogger.com/2017/03/fix-the-interstate-curb-appeal-please/

 

local news

Hoping the ‘loop’ becomes a loop for Amarillo

I have many wishes for the city where we live.

Amarillo is a wonderful city. It’s on the move. Its downtown district is undergoing a major makeover and will become a wonderful place to go for entertainment and business.

One of my wishes? It’s for Loop 335 to become an actual loop that circles the city of nearly 200,000 residents.

It is no such thing at the moment. It hasn’t been for, oh, several decades. Loop 335, aka Soncy Road on the city’s western border, has become just another busy street.

What is the state highway department planning for the loop?

Here’s what I understand.

The Texas Department of Transportation plans to extend the western corridor along Helium Road, about a mile west of Soncy. How far along is TxDOT in this endeavor?

My wife and I drove along Helium Road just the other day while running an errand. We found a gravel road from Hollywood Road north almost to Interstate 40. No work has yet begun on Helium.

Now, is there work ongoing on the loop? Yes. It’s occurring on the southern stretch of Loop 335 between Bell Street and Washington Street. TxDOT is turning the loop into what it calls a “limited access” highway.

The Soncy corridor needs lots of work.

We’ve been able to travel through a good bit of Texas during our three-plus decades living here. We’ve been to communities of Amarillo’s size and considerably smaller with actual loops that allow easy transport around those communities.

If a truck is eastbound on I-40 and must exit the freeway because it is carrying “hazardous cargo,” the driver must exit at Soncy — where he or she might choose to drive southbound through traffic that is choked often to a stop.

My wife and I will be long gone before the western loop extension is completed. We hope to return to visit frequently in the years to come. When we do, my hope is to see much of that interstate traffic diverted away from Soncy — and onto an extension that deserves the name Loop 335.

What we have now is nothing of the kind.

local news

Fix the interstate ‘curb appeal’ … please!

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Ginger Nelson’s campaign for Amarillo mayor sent us an item we received in the mail today.

It was a mailer containing a list of some of her top priorities if she wins the mayor’s race on May 6. One of them jumped right off the page; it stuck out like an orange “Road Work Ahead” sign — if you get my drift and I am sure you do.

Nelson pledges to “negotiate an enforceable maintenance agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation to clean up and improve curb appeal along I-40 andI-27.”

Can I hear an “Amen!”?

Interstate right-of-way curb appeal has been a recurring theme of this blog.

My take on it? The freeway interchange stinks! It looks like hell. TxDOT did a lousy job of landscaping it and there’s been next to zero  upkeep on it since the highway department rebuilt the interchange more than a decade ago. I-40 in either direction from the interchange looks shabby as well, as does I-27 southbound toward Loop 335/Hollywood Road.

Thousands of motorists pass through the interchange daily and many of them are passing through, perhaps never to see Amarillo ever again. I’ve long believed that it is important to at least present something of an attractive appearance to those passing through.

That’s not what pass-through motorists are getting when they zip through our city.

How does the mayor “negotiate an enforceable maintenance agreement” with TxDOT? Surely the mayor can find some common ground that somehow splits the cost between the city and the state agency. How about placing a phone call to our neighbors in, say, Albuquerque and Oklahoma City? Have you seen the interchanges in those cities?

I get that improved curb appeal doesn’t necessarily provide for better service to our city. We still have to pay for cops, firefighters, water and sewer service and trash pickup; we still need street lights that work properly and we need parks where we and our children and grandchildren can relax safely.

Interstate highway appearance, though, does matter at some level.

It matters to me, at least. I’d bet real money it matters to other Amarillo residents, too.

The rest of Nelson’s campaign mailer today contained routine boiler plate stuff: creating jobs and cutting red tape. Who doesn’t support all of that?

Improving the looks of this city to those who blast through ought to take a little higher place on the city’s political pecking order.

To that end, I wish Ginger Nelson well in that effort if she becomes our next mayor.

business news, local news

Patience, please, as city remakes itself

Whenever I venture into downtown Amarillo — which isn’t too terribly often these days — I remind myself of what I’ve thought for as long as I can remember.

It is that no matter the inconvenience we experience today, we’ll be paid off at the end of it all.

I think of such things whenever the city decides to tear up its streets and repave/rebuild them. I grumble at the sight of those construction cones and the orange detour signs. Then I remember that there’s always an end to it.

So it is with this downtown reconstruction effort that’s well underway in many instances.

Buchanan Street is cluttered with construction gear; streets leading from Pierce onto Fillmore and Buchanan are closed off. The city, truth be told, looks like a giant construction zone, which isn’t very pretty.

Chain-link fences have gone up around the ground floor of several long-abandoned retail outlets, signaling the start of construction of something shiny, new and — for my money — rather exciting. Tenth Avenue has some new loft apartments, with more on the way.

And, oh yes, we have that highway construction under way along Interstate 40, with the new direct-access ramp being built onto I-27; TxDOT crews are widening and improving the freeway east and westbound. Yep, it’s a bit of a mess out there — for the time being.

I’m kind of reminded more or less of the old Vietnam War saying about how U.S. troops occasionally had to “destroy a village in order to save it.” Perhaps that’s overstating it a bit, but I trust you’ll understand what I mean, which is that the city needs to erect these  obstacles temporarily while crews work to create something brand new.

Progress sometimes isn’t pretty. Amarillo’s progress is proceeding at what seems like an accelerating pace, which I hope means a quicker end to the ugliness that will precede what we all hope will be a gleaming new central business and entertainment district.

I’m willing to wait for as long as it takes.

local news

Thanks again, TxDOT, for keeping the trees

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ROBERTS COUNTY, Texas — You don’t see many of these around this part of Texas.

They’re trees, man.

But in this rural county, and over yonder just east of here in Hemphill County, they have a relative abundance of them along U.S. 60 and U.S. 83, which intersect in Canadian.

Think of what might have happened to a lot of these beauties.

The Texas Department of Transportation came up with a cockamamie idea some years back to cull a good number of trees from U.S. 60. They posed a “hazard” to motorists in some locations, TxDOT suggested.

TxDOT then put the word out to the public that it was considering getting rid of several thousand trees.

What do you suppose was the reaction in the affected area? Give up? Of course you know! It was an expression of outrage. Residents didn’t want TxDOT messing with them trees, you know. I was writing editorials for the Amarillo Globe-News at the time and the newspaper expressed its extreme displeasure with what TxDOT had in mind.

To its great credit, this state agency listened to the calls. It revised its tree-culling plan, which resulted in a serious reduction in the number of trees it would remove.

The photo attached to this blog was snapped this afternoon right next to the Miami Cemetery in Roberts County. Very soon, the leaves will turn colors.

Motorists who drive along U.S. 60 between Pampa and Canadian will be able to treat themselves to some fall foliage splendor that is about as pretty as it gets.

Thanks, TxDOT, for keeping the roadside eye candy for us to ogle.

local news

Enough with the highway weeds … already!

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I have just traveled through much of southern and western Amarillo along the city’s two interstate highways.

I want to scream at the top of my lungs.

The rights-of-way in both directions — north-south and east-west — are in hideous condition!

It’s the weeds, man! They’re everywhere!

Along the shoulder of the Canyon E-Way. Throughout the interchange with Intestate 40. Head west along I-40, you see more of them. Weeds are standing tall along the expanse of supposedly “landscaped” areas adjacent to the highway.

I keep hearing rumors and whispers about Amarillo working out arrangements with the Texas Department of Transportation to clean up, dress up and improve the appearance of the interstate highways that course through the city.

That’s all they are. Rumors and whispers. Nothing gets done. Ever!

TxDOT sends mowing crews out now and then. They whack the weeds down, but then they’re left to grow back. Which they’ve done quite nicely, thank you very much.

The issue is money. TxDOT doesn’t have it to spend on aesthetics. Neither, apparently, does the city — which long has passed the buck on highway upkeep to the state, given that it’s within the state’s purview to do that job.

I know I need not remind y’all that thousands of people travel through Amarillo every day. Many thousands of those travelers are seeing the city for the first — and likely only — time.

Many of their impressions are drawn by what they see while zipping along the highway at 60 mph. I understand fully you cannot judge a community completely by the appearance of its public rights-of-way.

But holy crap! Can’t we get the powers that be even moderately interested in getting off their duffs to do something about the appearance of our highways?

environmental news, local news, State news

Why not dress up our highway interchange?

Texas Freeway road art - Lone Star State on abutment wall with landscaping June 2014 I-10 pic

My wife and I — along with our dog Toby — have just returned from a week on the road.

Our travels took us south, then west, then north and back home. Along the way we zoomed through three substantial cities: Tucson and Phoenix, Ariz., and Albuquerque.

Tucson and Albuquerque are about the same size, roughly 550,000 or so residents; Phoenix is home to more than 1.5 million folks.

What do they have in common, other than fairly picturesque landscapes?

They all have highways that are attractive to the eye. Moreover, they are attractive to those of us who are just passing through. They leave us with a smattering of good vibes about the city and the care the leaders there take in dressing up their highways.

Whenever we see such things on our travels around the country, the same question keeps popping back into my pointed head: Why can’t Amarillo dress up its lone major freeway interchange?

One of these days — maybe soon — I intend to get to the bottom of this dilemma.

The Texas Department of Transportation rebuilt the Interstate 40/27 interchange just a few years ago. It reversed the over-under ramps of both highways. It built new structures and then painted the concrete in Palo Duro Canyon colors, with green trim. It painted those Amarillo Chamber of Commerce boots on the side of the overpasses.

Then it decided to plant a few native trees.

That’s it.

TxDOT hasn’t done much to spruce up the appearance of the interchange. I visited once some years ago with the TxDOT officials who oversaw the landscaping of the interchange and he told me — in response to a question about the then-shabby appearance of the interchange — that the state was allowing “native flora” to take over. My reaction was, well, laughter.

The state can do much better than it has done with this highway “beautification” effort.

If other cities and states can make their public rights-of-way attractive to visitors passing through, why not Amarillo?

 

local news

Modernization continues in Amarillo

Road construction sign.

Amarillo’s modernization process is continuing.

Given that I don’t get downtown as much these days, I tend to notice changes more readily. The latest big change to catch my eye can be seen from the northbound lanes of Interstate 27 as you approach the Interstate 40 interchange.

The state highway department has begun work on the interchange to create a direct connection from eastbound I-40 to southbound I-27.

To say it’s long overdue is to say, well, a whole lot.

For too long motorists traveling east on I-40 have had to exit the freeway and take an access road if they wish to transfer to southbound on the Canyon E-Way.

Once the state finishes the work, that pain in the posterior will be eradicated. Motorists will be able to make the direct connection quickly and easily.

This is occurring, of course, as downtown’s major makeover continues apace and as the highway department continues its painstaking work along the southern segment of Loop 335 to create a limited-access highway that will serve as an actual loop.

Will there be headaches along the way? Sure. Progress also produces them.

I’ll just caution all of us who live and/or work in the Texas Tundra’s “capital city” that the finished product — whether it’s the freeway interchange, the loop that really isn’t a “loop” or the city’s central business district — will be sights to behold.

Patience, man. Patience.

 

local news, State news

When a loop isn’t a loop

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TYLER, Texas — Used to be when I thought of Tyler, two thoughts came to mind: roses and Earl Campbell.

Now a third aspect comes to mind, and it’s not nearly as pleasant as the scent of a blooming flower they celebrate every year or the exploits of a great University of Texas and NFL running back who was born and reared in this community.

It’s Tyler, just like Amarillo, has a highway “loop” that has morphed into just another busy street.

The main drag through the city of 97,000 residents is U.S. 69. If you think you’re going to bypass the heavy traffic by taking Loop 323, well, think again. It’s about as useful as Loop 335 is circling Amarillo.

The good news for Amarillo, though, is that the city — in conjunction with the Texas Department of Transportation — is moving forward with plans to extend 335’s western-most corridor with the aim of pulling heavy traffic off of Soncy Road.

I haven’t a clue what they’re going to do in East Texas to improve traffic flow through Tyler.

But after slogging through loop traffic hoping to avoid the clogged highway that run through the center of this beautiful city, my hope is that plans are afoot to do in Tyler what’s being planned in Amarillo.

A loop by definition is supposed to relieve motorists’ headaches, not worsen them.

 

 

local news

Loop might yet become a loop

I think I’m having a flashback.

Some years ago, I heard the arguments for and against rerouting Loop 335, aka Soncy Road, a bit farther west to create an actual loop around Amarillo’s western edge.

Then the discussion ended.

It’s being revived, as the Texas Department of Transportation is considering a costly and comprehensive reworking of the so-called loop into something that would create a traffic bypass around what’s become one of the busiest commercial corridors in the city.

http://amarillo.com/news/latest-news/2014-10-15/txdot-wants-redo-loop

It’s going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars. It’s going to be the result, presumably, of a lengthy round of public hearings in which the city and the state will receive comment from affected individuals.

Good luck with this one, ladies and gentlemen.

Loop 335, as one of the commenters noted in the online post attached to this blog, isn’t really a loop the way Loop 289 is in Lubbock. Loop 289 was built correctly the first time, with limited access roadway encircling the city. If you miss your appointed exit in Lubbock, all you have to do is stay on the loop, circle the city and exit the loop. It’ll take some time, but it’s a sure-fire way to get pointed back in the direction you want.

Here? Well, we don’t have that kind of thoroughfare.

It’s developed along Soncy. Head east where Loop 335 makes the turn south of the city and development begins to thin out when you get past Washington Street. The rest of the 40-some-mile-long loop is relatively vacant of the commercial development you see on Soncy.

I recall hearing that TxDOT wanted to create some limited-access roadway along the southern edge of the city. Maybe that will help.

Now there might be a connection with the westernmost route along Loop 335, if it gets extended.

I’m not holding my breath waiting for this improvement. Still, I wish everyone at TxDOT and City Hall well.