It's not really clear just HOW we, as a group of concerned citizens, can get in contact with TxDot or how/why they contact us. I'm assuming that folks who have property in the right-of-way for FM 2181 have been contacted. If so, please bounce the info over here so everyone gets to know what's up. TxDot’s email newsletter is at http://www.keeptexasmoving.com/index.php/enews/249.
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Here's what I just posted to TxDot. Let's see if they hear mice that roar. Or ducks that quack.
FM 2181 through Hickory Creek, Corinth and south Denton was originally planned as a 4 lane boulevard with turning lanes. Construction – with the targeted end-date of 2013, is now planned for a 6 lane highway with a turning lane, the same amount of paved surface as present I-35 and one lane shy of George Bush Tollroad’s size. At the TxDot informational meeting last year in Lake Dallas, we were informed by a TxDot engineer that there was no need for noise abatement since there is “virtually no difference in sound emissions from a 2 lane to a 6 lane road.” This is obviously incorrect, especially as FM 2181 will, by 2015, carry traffic flowing from the east and the North Texas Tollway via the new Lake Lewisville bridge (east-west) and from the south on FM 2499 which should relieve traffic heading north from the DFW airport and LBJ area.
In the last 4 years, I have noticed that the increasing volume of traffic on FM 2181 has made it often quite difficult to hold conversations in my backyard on the easternmost edge of Kensington Estates (which is not protected by Kensington Estates or Corinth Forest’s walls), and I am 1/8 of a mile, separated from the road by Army Corps woods! The situation is worse for neighbors immediately along and in the path of this road. 7 lanes of concrete will certainly create an unpleasant amount of noise in most of the neighborhoods adjoining FM 2181 and will even roar down Veal Springs Branch (adjacent to my residence) and echo down the hiking and horse trails around Lake Lewisville.
We appreciate that TxDot finds it necessary to build new roads to handle the ever increasing traffic in the Metroplex (at least until Texans discover the joy of Mass Transit when gas hits $6 a litre), however those of us in Corinth, Hickory Creek and south-east Denton think that unless a serious effort is made to mitigate the noise which will arrive with the traffic, our property values will drop along with the quality of our life which, I’m sure, isn’t TxDot’s intentions. Why is TxDot now finalizing plans for this virtual highway without including community-friendly noise abatement devices such as the sound walls proposed for FM 2499 and the new DCTA rail-line? Will TxDot at least use the UT designed Superpave™ wear surface system employed in San Antonio to cut tire-pavement noise by 1⁄2? I imagine that the latter will be more economical. I know that Arizona is presently planning to resurface 150 miles of road in order to quieten traffic and England requires this surface on roads to cut noise emissions and to cut down on water related issues.
Please inform us when noise emission studies will be done for the neighborhoods along FM 2181, taking into account the larger size of the proposed road construction along with accurate projections of the volume of traffic flowing from East and South into our region.•••••••••••••••••••••••••
Huitt-Zollars Road SchematicsIn my files I have a possible contact number for the road contraction from the November 16, 2006 TxDot meeting which states "Persons requiring special communication or accommodations needs should contact Kenneth Roberts at Huitt-Zollars, Inc. 214-871-3311. I also have an incomplete pdf file (which I can't send anyone as I don't know how) of the actual road schematics which I believe we saw at the meeting. The schematics show the actual road – boundaries, sidewalk locations, intersections, grading and all.
Here’s some info detailing the pdf file in case a clever neighbor can track the original down on the web. The schematic title page has Texas Department of Transportation's Dallas District (William L. Hale, P.D., District Engineer) on it. It is a Denton County Design Schematic, FM 2181 from Lillian Miller Parkway to IH 35E. There are reference numbers on it as well: CSJ: 2054-02-015,016 and there appear to be 4 rolls. The document was drawn up in July 2006.
Precinct 1 WebsiteOutgoing Commissioner Precinct 1 Cynthia White's website has the most detailed info about how construction plans are going along for FM 2181/Swisher. Here's the URL and please click on the FM 2181/Swisher link: http://dentoncounty.com/court/precinct1/default.asp?Link=Transport. The link at at the middle right side of the page.
TxDot’s “Keep Texas Moving” websiteThis has a section for “Events and Public Meetings” which is where I assume things will be posted by officials when they are REQUIRED to post the info. Here’s the site -- http://www.keeptexasmoving.com/index.php/public_hearings.
Since our complaint about the lack of noise abatement along FM 2181 doesn’t fit into their pre-established equation, we’ll have to likely work around the box which could mean emails, snail mail and phone calls. They have a handy comments and questions section which I plan to go to next to post a few queries at http://www.keeptexasmoving.com/index.php/contact
(Message edited by Dryad on
04/29/2008 21:19 PM)
