Tag Archives: TxDOT

local news

City to assume unwelcome label

Quite soon, Princeton, Texas — the city I have called home for the past six years — is going to assume a title I don’t think anyone ever wants for their community.

Princeton will become known as the City to Avoid at Rush Hour. 

How do I know that? Because the Texas Department of Transportatio is going to lay waste to the major east-west thoroughfare that runs straight through the middle of Princeton.

U.S. Highway 380 is going under the bulldozer’s front as TxDOT starts to expand the highway from four lanes to six. Here, though, is the kicker: To expand the highway, TxDOT is going to narrow it, turning it from a four-lane right-of-way to a two-lane.

None of this, I hasten to add, will have much to do with the construction of the freeway bypass TxDOT is planning along the 380 route from Denton to Greenville.

One can argue that Princeton already has the Rush Hour ban label already. Traffic slows to a near stop west bound in the morning and east bound in the aftenoon along U.S. 380. I try to wrap my noodle around what will happen when TxDOT decides to narrow the highway from four lanes to two. It boggles my noggin.

To be candid, at my relatively advanced age I don’t expect to live long enough to see the completion of the bypass route around Princeton. Or around any of the other cities along the 380 route for that matter.

The state is facing some serious property condemnation issues as it seeks to purchase the land on which to carve the new highway. The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution does require government to give “just compensation” for property it takes as its own. It’s going to be mighty expensive to build it … you know?

I long have favored development. I want my community to grow and to prosper. I believe Princeton will prosper once the highway gets improved and once the state finishes its bypass project.

But damn! The nightmarish inconvenience of it will make it mighty difficult to anticipate good things when the end of the work arrives.

I believe Princeton needs an identity to give the city a personality. This isn’t quite the ID I anticipated for the city where I choose to live.

economic news, local news

Come back during rush hour!

A friend who lives in Austin ventured through Princeton recently partly to check out some of the issues I have raised on this blog … at least that’s what he said.

He was traveling from Paris through Princeton and wanted to know about the hubbub over this city’s enormous growth.

He got a small taste of what I have been saying about this Collin County community that is undergoing a fairly fundamental identity crisis. My friend said somethinga about the city-imposed moratorium on residential construction. The council imposed the ban and then recently extended it another six months. My hunch is that it will do so again and again … and may even again.

City Manager Mike Mashburn estimates that Princeton is home to more than 40,000 residents. I believe him! Builders are planting “New Homes Coming” signs still on undeveloped residential plots as they commence contruction to fulfill building permits that already were approved prior to the council’s decision to suspend residential construction.

The city has overbuilt beyond its ability to service the people who already are here. It is trying to halt the construction long enough to enable it to provide the infrastructure it needs to provide the service.

My friend said he cannot imagine how tough it is during morning and evening rush hours along U.S. 380, the major east-west thoroughfare that cuts through Princeton. What’s more, it’s going to get worse. Texas transportation gurus want to widen 380 from four lanes to six, but to do that the’ll have to shut down two of the lanes to make the highway a two-lane track while they build the extra lanes.

I appreciate my friend’s outsider perspective. He can’t “imagine” how bad it can get here. I got news for him. Neither can I.

local news

Highway work: a Texas thing

DRIPPING SPRINGS, Texas — Forget high school football, or fried beer that they peddle at the state fair in Dallas, or the 12th Man that fills the stadium in College Station.

The newest “Texas thing” has to be the highway construction projects that disrupt traffic flow in virtually every corner of this vast state.

I returned to Dripping Springs in the Hill County to introduce Sabol, my new puppy, to members of our family.

The road work here does not end. I doubt it ever will. If and when it does, I’ll likely be underground for eternity.

US Highway 290 is getting a second deck above the existing thoroughfare. I understand the state wants to build a no-exit thoroughfare through what they call “The Y” along 290. The existing highway will remain and local motorists can exit whenever they want.

I have done my share of griping about the work occurring in North Texas along US 380. We are not alone! Yes, other parts of the state are going through much of what we’re enduring in the Metroplex.

I now will vow to avoid griping too loudly about future highway projects at home. It’s a Texas thing … you know?

local news

Get ready for traffic collapse?

This information comes from a North Texas public school administration, a fellow I trust to be truthful and one who isn’t prone to spreading vicious rumors.

It goes like this: He has heard from a leading Princeton public official that U.S. Highway 380 is going to narrow to one lane of traffic each way (east and west) while the state widens the highway from four lanes to six.

I am not going to name any names here, because I cannot confirm it. I already knew about the Texas Department of Transportation plans to widen 380. It’s been in all the papers. What I didn’t know was that to widen the highway from four lanes to six it has to narrow the traffic lanes from four to two.

The traffic along 380 is becoming the stuff of legends in this part of Texas. Damn near everyone I know who lives near me — neighbors, assorted friends and acquaintances, my mail carrier — all complain about the traffic.

This new development, though, is going to require me to find alternate routes heading east and west out of Princeton. The westbound alternative might be easier to identify.

Absent that alternative, I fear the Mother of All Traffic Nightmares is going to visit us in Collin County … and she won’t go away quietly.

local news

Waiting for monstrous project

When you mention the word “infrastructure,” there is a decent chance you’re talking about traffic.

And when you mention “traffic,” particularly in North Texas, you well might be thinking of US Highway 380.

You might wonder: What do these elements have to do with each other? The Texas Department of Transportation is fixin’ to hopefully correct the traffic problems by working on alternatives to traveling along US 380.

It’s a nightmare right now.

When we moved to Princeton five years ago we learned TxDOT’s plans for the region. They involve construction of loops around several cities from Denton to Greenville. Princeton sits about 35 miles from Denton and 21 miles from Greenville. TxDOT wants to construct a loop south of 380. It would attract through traffic to use the bypass, leaving local traffic on 380.

It’s expensive, man. I cannot remember the total cost of the highway work, but it runs in the tens of billions of dollars.

Now for the downer. I am 74 years of age, turning 75 in December. I mention that because I might not live long to see this project completed. I keep hearing how it’s going to take decades to finish this task.

Which brings me to the most important point. What will happen as this region continues to grow at its breakneck pace, which is projected for the greater Dallas-Fort Worth metro area?

Will the highway loops around the cities that straddle US 380 be enough to loosen the traffic flow? If not, then what does the state do?

I surely get how important infrastructure is for growing communities such as those strung along the highway. I am going to hope that TxDOT is thinking past when it completes this huge project .,.. and prepares for the next big one.

local news

More on the monstrosity

That partially built apartment complex around the corner and down the street from my Princeton home just doesn’t leave my mind.

I want it gone. I no longer want it to be finished. Why? Traffic! That’s it, man.

You see, the 360-unit apartment monstrosity sits alongside US Highway 380, a multilane highway that already is congested beyond reason. The city is hoping to bring in a gigantic retail complex not far from where the apartment complex now sits fallow.

The Texas Department of Transportation wants to expand 380, adding more traffic lanes and, thus, making the traffic woes even worse.

I can remember when the Farmersville City Council nixed an apartment complex near the Brookshire’s grocery story complex some years back. The reason for the rejection? Traffic. Council members were concerned what the increased traffic would do to that area. Thus, I now wonder what the Princeton City Council must have been thinking when it approved the proposal to build the huge complex next to Wal-Mart.

The complex appears to be headed for the trash heap. I have no proof of that belief. I just believe it.

It’s just as good. We do not need any more traffic congestion to give us headaches as we do battle with the legendary D/FW traffic woes.

local news

Site faces its fate

All reporters have sources who tell them things off the record and it falls on the reporter to decide on the veracity of what they hear.

Well, today I heard something that bears repeating. It involves that monstrous boondoggle under construction on US Highway 380 in Princeton, Texas. Well, the term “under construction” is a term of art of sorts.

The apartment complex hasn’t seen any construction activity for several months. I now am hearing that Princeton City Hall is preparing to bulldoze the project if the developer doesn’t produce a workable plan to resume construction … and soon.

I understand that the city will seize ownership of the site and then commence its razing.

For the ever-lovin’ life of me I cannot see how the project can continue. It’s a 360-unit “luxury apartment” complex that has gone fallow. The developer and the general contractor got into some sort of snit and the contractor walked off the job. Since then, the apartment complex, with its interior floor plans exposed to ferocious weather elements has been pummeled by rain, wind, hail, a bit of snow.

My own humble view tells me the project cannot be resurrected. It’s too late. The buildings are too damaged.

Am I upset at what might be coming to that project? Not in the least.

I will offer one reason why I would welcome its destruction: Traffic!

The city has announced plans to welcome a massive new retail complex on the other side of 380. It will bring more traffic to already-congested highway. Meanwhile, Texas highway planners are hoping to build extra lanes along 380 … which only figures to worsen traffic woes!

Princeton does not need the apartment complex. Let it go away … and soon.

local news

Time is no one’s friend

I have surrendered to the reality that time marches on relentlessly and that I likely will not be around long enough to see a major highway project planned by the Texas transportation department come to its fruition.

If only …

Those of us who live along US Highway 380 gnash our teeth and grumble — sometimes quite loudly — over the traffic (non)flow along the highway at certain times of the day.

It’s impossible. It’s maddening. It’s annoying in the extreme.

The Texas Department of Transportation has a big-league plan ostensibly to solve this problem. It plans to build a series of freeway “loops” around several cities that sit astride US 380. Princeton, where I live, is one of them.

What might stand in the way of TxDOT finishing this project before the end of time? It might be the stubborn resistance of property owners who will have their land claimed under the right of eminent domain. The Constitution’s Fifth Amendment — which has more to say than protecting Americans from self-incrimination –also says that citizens deserve “just compensation” if the government seizes their property.

The state will have to claim a lot of private property if it intends to build those loops.

Too damn often these days, I get caught in the middle of a serious traffic jam, either westbound in the morning or eastbound in the early evening. My late wife used to wonder: Where are all these people going? All I know, I would say, is that they’re all here right now.

The freeway loops are designed to allow through-traffic to venture off of US 380, saving the existing highway for local traffic.

I’ll admit to having high hopes of living long enough to see this project completed. Those hopes now are all but dashed. State traffic planners keep yammering about transferring project money elsewhere … and we have that eminent domain issue lingering over us.

Meanwhile, I’ll just keep gnashing my teeth waiting for the stopped traffic to get moving … anywhere!

Uncategorized

Highway crew goes over the line

As a general rule I am not inclined to gripe about the Texas highway department’s construction crews.

I am making an exception based on an experience I had today.

I was returning home from a quick trip to Beaumont, where I paid my respects at the funeral of a dear friend. I was driving north along U.S. Highway 69 through the Piney Woods; I veered onto a toll road and got back onto U.S. 69 south of Greenville.

That’s when it happened. A highway repair crew had stopped traffic because it had become a one-lane right-of-way. I pulled in at the end of a long line of northbound traffic. I could peer toward the head of the line to see the end of the southbound traffic. I noticed the last vehicle.

Our line started to move About a dozen vehicles got through. Then the flagger put the “STOP” sign up. We waited — hold on for this one — for roughly 40 minutes. No one moved through the site. Our line behind me backed up maybe more than a mile. I imagined that the southbound line of vehicles was just as long. Finally, the crew let the southbound vehicles through.

Finally, the end of that flow appeared, and we got through the site. The flagger was waving at us as we drove through. To be brutally candid, I was tempted to give that person the finger … but I didn’t.

I didn’t check my watch, but I am certain I was stopped dead on the highway for an hour.

Holy cow, man! I was beat from the drive from Beaumont. The last thing in this entire world I wanted to do was sit in stopped traffic because a Texas highway department road crew couldn’t manage the flow properly.

There. I’m done. Yes, I feel better now.

business news, local news

Traffic woes to mount

The more I think about the decision to bring a huge new shopping complex to Princeton, Texas, the more I also have to think about one of the consequences of that massive new business endeavor.

Traffic, man!

When I travel through this part of Collin County, I hear a bit of chatter about how Princeton is becoming a city motorists should seek to avoid. Why? Because the traffic along US 380 becomes impossible … and impassable!

Just yesterday, in fact, I was coming home from an outing in Tarrant County. I drove across Fort Worth, along the Sam Rayburn Tollway and then high-tailed it to US 75 northbound. I made the exit onto US 380 in McKinney and started to head east toward the house.

Then I stopped. And waited. And waited some more for the traffic to move. It did. It took a while!

The Princeton City Council has approved a 91-acre parcel to be developed into a major shopping complex on the north side of 380. I favor the decision. I want the business to come to the city I call home. I also wonder about the wisdom of the council’s decision. Why is that? Well, I covered a Farmersville City Council meeting a couple of years ago and watched that council reject an apartment complex because — here it comes — of the traffic problems it would create.

Princeton’s council seemingly doesn’t have such concern, as it approved a mammoth apartment complex a few hundred yards east of where the shopping complex is planned. Work on that project still appears to be far from finished, but when it’s done, it also will spill hundreds of vehicles onto the highway every day.

Maybe I should look at this issue more strategically. Texas transportation planners are hoping to build a freeway bypass around Princeton …. eventually! It is designed to relieve traffic congestion on 380. Last I heard, though, the state is a long way from turning over any dirt on that project.

That work likely will outlive this old geezer’s time on Earth.

Don’t misunderstand me, as I am not going to reverse myself and oppose the business complex. I am a pro-biz guy and the revenue the shopping complex will generate will be very good for this city.

We’d all better prepared ourselves, though, for some major teeth-gnashing as we seek to get home in time for dinner.