Public hearing on Trinity Parkway project to take place on May 5 at Dallas Convention Center Arena

by PegNews wire

DALLAS — The North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA), in cooperation with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), will conduct a public hearing on the proposed Trinity Parkway project at 7 p.m. on May 5, at the Dallas Convention Center Arena. The hearing is in response to a major milestone, the public release of the project's Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) and Draft Section 4(f) Evaluation.

The purpose of the public hearing is to inform and solicit comments from the public on the conceptual schematics for the proposed project alternatives as well as information contained in the Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The formal public hearing presentation begins promptly at 7 p.m. May 5 at the Dallas Convention Center Arena, 650 S. Griffin St. in Dallas. A formal public comment period follows the public hearing. Please note that during the public comment period, responses to comments will not be given because of time constraints and in order to allow everyone an opportunity to speak.

Prior to the hearing, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the same location, NTTA and TxDOT staff will be available during an open house to answer questions about the project. Conceptual schematic drawings, the SDEIS, and other project-related information will be on display and available for review at the open house.

Oral and written comments are welcome during the open house and public hearing. A court reporter will be present to record individual comments from attendees as well as record any comments made during the formal public hearing. Written comments may be submitted at the public hearing or mailed to: Attn: Corridor Manager, Re: Trinity Parkway Project, NTTA, P.O. Box 260729, Plano, TX, 75026. Written comments also will be accepted by e-mail at trinityparkway@ntta.org. All comments must be received or postmarked on or before Friday, May 15, 2009, to be included in the public hearing record.

Anyone interested in attending the public hearing who has special communication or accommodation needs is encouraged to contact the NTTA at 214-224-3062 or by e-mail at trinityparkway@ntta.org no later than April 30, 2009, which is three business days prior to the public hearing. Because the public hearing will be conducted in English, any request for language interpreters or other special communication needs should also be made no later than April 30. The NTTA will make all reasonable efforts to accommodate these needs.

The SDEIS, a comprehensive environmental document, was prepared by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), TxDOT and the NTTA in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The SDEIS discusses the potential impacts the Trinity Parkway project could have on various social, economic and environmental elements. The document provides new or additional information and data analysis performed since the Draft Environmental Impact Statement was published in February 2005. The Draft Section 4(f) Evaluation was prepared due to the proposed project's potential impacts to historic sites listed or eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

One no-build alternative (Alternative 1) and eight build alternatives (Alternatives 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 3C, 4A, 4B and 5) are evaluated in the SDEIS and will be presented at the public hearing. Each build alternative is approximately nine miles long and begins at Interstate Highway 35E/State Highway (SH) 183 and ends at U.S. Highway 175/SH 310.

The SDEIS is available for public review on the NTTA's Web site.

The SDEIS and Draft Section 4(f) Evaluation and conceptual schematic drawings have been placed on file at the following locations:

City of Dallas, 1500 Marilla St., Room 6BS, Dallas, 75201; and

Dallas County, 411 Elm St., 4th Floor, Dallas, 75202.

These items are also on file and available for public inspection at the following locations:

NTTA Offices, 5900 W. Plano Parkway, Suite 100, Plano, 75093;

TxDOT Dallas District Library, 4777 E. Highway 80, Mesquite, 75150; and

North Central Texas Council of Governments headquarters, Center Point Two, 2nd Floor, 616 Six Flags Drive, Arlington, 76011.

Copies of the SDEIS are available for review in hard copy and/or CD-ROM format at the following locations:

J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas 75201;

Martin L. King Jr. Branch Library, 2922 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Dallas 75215;

Dallas West Branch Library, 2332 Singleton Boulevard, Dallas 75212;

North Oak Cliff Branch Library, 302 W. Tenth Street, Dallas 75208;

Oak Lawn Branch Library, 4100 Cedar Springs Road, Dallas 75219;

Pleasant Grove Branch Library, 1125 S. Buckner Boulevard, Dallas 75217;

Dallas Regional Chamber, 700 N. Pearl Street, Suite 1200, Dallas 75201;

Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce, 400 S. Zang Boulevard, Suite 110, Dallas 75208;

West Dallas Chamber of Commerce, 2424 N. Westmoreland Road, Dallas 75212;

Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce, 2838 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Dallas 75215;

Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, 4622 Maple Avenue, Suite 207, Dallas 75219;

Greater Dallas Asian American Chamber of Commerce, 11171 Harry Hines Boulevard, Suite 115, Dallas 75229;

Downtown Dallas, 2200 Ross Avenue, Suite 4600E, Dallas 75201;

West Dallas Multipurpose Center, 2828 Fish Trap Road, Dallas 75212;

New Hope Baptist Church, 5002 S. Central Expressway, Dallas 75215; and

St. Philips Neighborhood Development Corporation, 1622 Panama Place, Dallas 75215.

Copies of the SDEIS (both electronic and paper) may be requested online at trinityparkway@ntta.org or by mail. Mailed requests should be submitted to Attn: Corridor Manager, Re: Trinity Parkway Project, NTTA, P.O. Box 260729, Plano, TX 75026. Copies are available for $300 plus shipping and handling, and a CD-ROM of the document in Adobe Acrobat format is available for $5 plus shipping and handling.

Source: NTTA