Princeton, Texas, is a community in transition. How do I know that? Because it is moving rapidly from its former status as a tiny burg to a community of considerable consequence.
Part of that transition is going to involve traffic improvements. How does the city improve traffic flow while it is in the middle of rapid-growth mode? By tearing up streets and forcing residents and visitors to the city around construction sites.
In short, we’d all better prepare ourselves for an extended period of teeth-gnashing, grumbling and flashes of anger.
The Texas Department of Transportation is going to tear U.S. Highway 380 up in the next year or so. TxDOT plans to widen the highway that runs east-west through Princeton; it will add a lane in either direction. If I owned a business along the highway I would be, um, upset with the disruption of access to my property.
That’s just one part of what awaits U.S. 380. Later, TxDOT will build a freeway bypass that will take motorists away from the existing highway, clearing it of much of the traffic that slows to a virtual stop at least twice each day.
The city has two major street jobs underway. A significant portion of Myrick Boulevard is being remade. So is Second Avenue. The city has erected detour signs, sending motorists along routes that take them out of their way.
I want to caution everyone about something they know in their hearts, but which they likely forget at times. It is that the construction won’t last forever and that the result of that construction is going to produce better-quality rights-of-way. The streets won’t be as bumpy and pothole marked as they are at the moment.
Our tax dollars are going to be working for us. I’m OK with it.