Bridge plans and road expansions in Collin County draw opposition

by Bill Baumbach of The Collin County Observer

The road will divert much of the westbound traffic from eastern Collin County from Wylie into Lucas, Parker, and Plano.

Last week, the commissioners court approved a $381,000 contract with the engineering firm of HTNB for a "Route Study" to determine the final placement of a 9 mile, 6 lane divided highway over Lake Lavon that would connect FM 1378 in Lucas to SH 78 near Copeville. The road will span the entire width of the lake with 2 bridges, and eventually connect with the eastern leg of the Outer Loop.

The new highway and bridges would provide a more direct route from rapidly growing Lavon and Rockwall to Plano via Parker Rd. SH 205 to Rockwall is already scheduled to expand to 6 lanes.

The road will divert much of the westbound traffic from eastern Collin County from Wylie into Lucas, Parker, and Plano.

Almost immediately after the court's actions a group called "Save Lake Lavon" set up a web site to protest the bridges.

The group lists their mission as to, "Preserve the peace and tranquility of Lake Lavon, its parks, equestrian trails, camp grounds, fishing, swimming, boating, picnic and recreational areas."

Their home page is emblazoned with the headline "Help Save Lake Lavon", and explains, "We seek to avoid the ill fate of Lake Ray Hubbard and do not want Lake Lavon ruined by any more loud, unsightly, polluting bridges."

In another, related action, the court approved spending $450,000 as a 10% match to TxDOT funds for acquisition of land to widen Parker Rd (from Murphy Rd. to FM 1378) to 6 lanes.

In 2005, the county held a public meeting in Wylie to discuss the various routes a widened Parker Rd. could take. Four different right of ways were proposed. One veered sharply to the north to Lucas. It was explained that the northern route would connect with the proposed bridge across Lake Lavon.

The other 3 routes simply eliminated the 'dog leg' intersection of Parker and FM 1378, leaving the main route towards St. Paul and Wylie. Most of the meeting was spent exploring these 3 alternatives to the bad intersection at FM 1378.

During the 2005 meeting, residents expressed a variety of opinions, with several speaking out against the northern route. County officials and the engineers explained that there would be more public hearings before a decision was made on the final right of way.

I recently asked County Engineer Rubin Delgado if purchasing $4.5 million in land meant that the final route had been determined. Mr. Delgado wrote back stating, "We, the county, have set the alignment and are proceeding with the schematic and right-of-way plans leading to a public hearing."

Wow! The public hearing will be scheduled after all the decisions have been made and the plans are drawn.

It used to be "We, the people"; now its "We, the county".

So much for public input. Maybe these Save the Lake folks are on to something.

Pegasus News Content partner - The Collin County Observer