Saturday, April 20, 2024
TxDOT public meeting to get input on 377/144 project
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is expected to make what Granbury Mayor Pro Tem Tony Mobly called “Band-Aid” fixes in the coming weeks to “the worst intersection in the city” US Hwy. 377 and SH 144/Morgan Street.
But here’s what many may consider even better news: TxDOT will hold a public meeting, probably within the next three months, to seek input on a phased project to widen 377 through the busiest part of town, from Pirate Drive to Fall Creek Highway. That’s according to Granbury City Manager Chris Coffman.
The expansion has been talked about for years but was moved to a back burner last year by the Texas Transportation Commission (TTC). The fact that it now appears to have front-burner status can be credited to the lobbying efforts of local officials, Coffman indicated.
The state agency now realizes that Hood County, recently ranked by the U.S. Census Bureau as the ninth fastest-growing county in the country, simply can’t wait years to address growing traffic problems, he said.
Quick-fix adjustments to the 377/144 intersection are expected to get underway this month.
They will include signage, delineators (poles with reflectors) to prevent motorists from changing lanes and possibly changes to the timing of signal lights.
In an email sent Tuesday morning to City Engineer JoAnne Kamman, TxDOT area engineer David Fowler wrote that the agency was “waiting on the delivery of materials” but that once they arrived, the delineators would be scheduled for placement as quickly as possible.
In an email sent that same morning to Public Works Director Rick Crownover, Fowler wrote: “Our maintenance supervisor was told the materials would be delivered within the next two to three weeks. He plans to complete the work after Thanksgiving.
A diagram of the planned work drawn up by TxDOT and provided to the city shows:
■ a triangular-shaped island inside the southeast corner of the intersection where there is an entrance ramp onto 377. The island will force motorists in the right-hand northbound lane to turn onto the entrance ramp while also allowing southbound motorists to turn onto the entrance ramp.
■ a yield sign on the entrance ramp to indicate that northbound motorists turning onto the entrance ramp must yield to southbound motorists turning onto the entrance ramp.
■ a “Right Lane Must Turn Right” sign on the northbound side of 144 by White Cliff Road to be located 650 feet from the entrance ramp.
■ delineators between the two northbound lanes on Hwy. 144 650 feet from the intersection/entrance ramp to prevent motorists from trying to change lanes.
“The whole purpose of that is to increase safety and eliminate accidents,” Coffman said.” When we have an accident it backs up traffic forever.”
Coffman said that a traffic study done by the developer of Dolce Vita, the five-story senior living apartment building being built near the eastbound 377 entrance ramp, indicated that traffic congestion would be alleviated by adjustments to the timing of the traffic lights.
US HWY 377 EXPANSION
Coffman said that TxDOT officials are trying to find funding for the 377 expansion project and to “fasttrack it as much as they can.”
He said that he does not know what the estimated cost of the entire project will be but that the first phase is projected to cost around $25 million.
Coffman stated that city officials have a “great” working relationship with TxDOT, and said that state Sen. Brian Birdwell and outgoing state Rep. Mike Lang, both Republicans who live in Granbury, have been involved in the effort to address growing traffic woes.
Mobly said that newly elected state Rep. Glenn Rogers, R-Palo Pinto, has pledged to support the efforts. He said he also feels confident that U.S. Rep. August Pfluger, R-San Angelo, who also was elected in Tuesday’s General Election, will do what he can to help as well.
City and county elected officials have no control over state and federal highways, and improvements to those thoroughfares are what is needed most in Hood County.
“We spend $1 million a year on road repairs to try to keep our roads good, and the county’s doing the same thing,” Mobly said. “But unfortunately the main road hasn’t been a (state) priority. We are desperately looking for some type of a solution, but yet we’ve got to have some help.”
Last year, when city officials tried unsuccessfully to have 377 listed as a priority on the TTC’s 2020 Unified Transportation Plan, a 10-year priority list, Mayor Nin Hulett encouraged locals to write letters in support of that move.
He told the HCN this week that he continues to encourage such letters, which he can then share with state transportation officials.
Letters can be emailed to him at nhulett@granbury.org or mailed to him at Granbury City Hall, 116 W. Bridge St., Granbury, Texas 76048. Letters can also be sent to Hulett through the city’s P.O. Box address. That number is 969.
Echoing Mobly’s sentiments, Hulett said that the expansion project is needed.
“We can only do so much,” he said of the city.
