Squeaky wheels

A project to expand U.S. Highway 377 through the most traffic-congested part of town in the ninth fastest-growing county in the country has inexplicably dropped off the state’s radar.

Granbury city officials are asking the public’s help in putting it back.

They are encouraging local residents to make their views known to the Texas Transportation Commission (TTC). The TTC’s 2020 Unified Transportation Plan does not list the previously planned 377 widening project.

With a 4 p.m. Monday deadline looming, there isn’t time to send letters through the U.S. mail. Comments will have to be made via voice-mail or online.

The number to call to leave a voice message is 1-800-687-8108.

A form to submit comments online can be found at www.txdot.gov/contact-us/form.html.

The 2020 Unified Transportation Plan will decide TxDOT’s major projects for the next decade. Any project not included in the plan is unlikely to obtain funding from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), according to the city.

The TTC’s 2016 plan included $20 million for the U.S. 377 Roadway Expansion Project in Granbury, and construction was supposed to begin in 2017.

That never happened.

If the project isn’t placed back on the list, it is a safe bet that traffic problems on the 377 corridor will worsen as Hood County’s population continues to explode.

Two weeks ago, a multi-vehicle collision on the lake bridge – the second in two days – caused a traffic jam not only on the highway but on back roads such as Crawford Court and the new Harbor Lakes Drive extension.

Lines of vehicles were also backed up in the parking lot of Granbury Lakeside Center – the old Kroger location – as motorists tried to make their way to Crawford Court.

The United States Census Bureau recently determined that Hood County ranks No. 9 on the list of fastest-growing counties in the nation.

At its regular meeting Tuesday night, the City Council unanimously adopted a resolution encouraging the TCC to move forward with the Granbury project, which would widen 377 from SH 167 to east of SH 144.

City Manager Chris Coffman stated that the chamber and Commissioners Court would be asked to get involved in pushing for the project.

Assistant City Manager Michael Ross told the council that the “glaring absence” of the project from the 2020 plan is “disturbing.”

Ross noted that he as well as Mayor Nin Hulett and Mayor Pro Tem Tony Mobly were to attend a meeting on Friday of Tex-21, where they could seek support for the project. Tex-21 is a collective, grassroots effort to improve transportation infrastructure in Texas and Oklahoma.

Hulett told the HCN on Wednesday that efforts were being made to contact Republican state Sen. Brian Birdwell, who lives in Gran-bury, in hopes of eliciting his help.

He said that he had spoken with state Rep. Mike Lang, who also lives in Granbury, and that the Republican lawmaker had indicated a willingness to support the effort but asked for a chance to review the city’s resolution.

DESIRE FOR CLARITY

Hulett said that in addition to attending Tex-21 meetings, he has spoken a number of times with transportation officials in Austin, yet had not been made aware that the state intended to omit the Granbury project from its 2020 plan.

He said that he wants clarity from the TTC on why that happened, why Unified Transportation Plans are issued annually when projects listed are supposedly a 10-year plan, and how the state prioritizes projects.

“We need to understand what do we need to do to make sure that this stays on the (Unified) Transportation Plan,” Hulett said. “We need clearer direction.”

The long-awaited Cresson Relief Route, which still hasn’t officially broken ground, was years in the making.

Former Precinct 3 County Commissioner Leonard Heathington played a leading role in that effort starting in 2007. He was joined by former Precinct 4 Commissioner Steve Berry when Berry was seated in 2008.

Over the years various other city and county officials pushed for the project as well.

TxDOT Public Information Officer Bethany Kurtz told the HCN late last week that utility relocations are nearing completion for the Cresson bypass and that a project kickoff event is “slated for early fall.”

It had originally been estimated for last spring.

Hulett said that even if the Granbury project is added to the 2020 plan, he will encourage locals to continue writing letters in hopes of making the project a priority.

He noted that the way 377 is now, traffic stands to be halted completely when an accident occurs, whereas if there are additional lanes, traffic could possibly continue to move.

“I will put (the letters) in a folder and will personally take them” to Austin, Hulett said. “That’s what we’re going to have to do.”