Progress, I am learning in real time, almost always comes with a price.
That price is particularly evident in fast-growing communities such as the one where I have lived for the past nearly six years.
Princeton is a city on the move. The city council recently enacted a building moratorium on new home construction. It’s a four-month ban that likely will need to be extended. The council’s decision was based on lack of infrastructure to accommodate the thousands of new residents who have moved here since the 2020 Census.
Get this: The 2020 Census pegged Princeton’s population at 17,027. This year, the population is estimated to be more than 28,000 residents. It continues to skyrocket.
The needs greater water capacity, more emergency services personnel — such as police officers and firefighters. Princeton won’t get all that done in four months.
In addition, Collin County recently closed County Road 398 just south of my house all the way to FM 546. CR 398 has been serving as an alternate route to take motorists off of U.S. Highway 380, the main drag that runs through a number of Collin County cities. My GPS system does guide me a bit farther south to CR 447, which then loops around to pick up FM 546. CR 398 needs lots of work, as it is full of dips and crevices for the mile between Beauchamp Boulevard and FM 546.
Oh, one more thing. The Texas Department of Transportation has finalized the findings of the environmental impact study it has conducted that precedes a major highway development project designed to bypass traffic around Princeton and other cities along U.S. 380. I might not live long enough to see that project finished, but it’s going to be huge.
Yes, we are paying the progress of being such a desirable place for folks to live, to work and to raise families. I welcome them.
But the price we’re all paying is going to become a major pain in the rear … until it gets finished.