A portion of Northwest Highway at Audelia may be lifted 23 feet as part of a overpass near White Rock Lake if Texas Department of Transportation and City of Dallas plans to alleviate future traffic jams go unchanged.
But some neighbors say the overpass isn’t needed. They believe the only reason the City is building an overpass to join Audelia and Buckner roads is to access federal funds for the project by alleviating a floodplain.
“We think it (the overpass) is not necessary and will greatly detract from the beauty of the area,” says neighborhood resident Jack Gempel.
The City must pay only 10 percent of project costs if a floodplain is alleviated, says City project manager Alan Hendrix.
If floodplain alleviation isn’t included in the Audelia/Buckner interchange project, federal guidelines require the City to pay for the entire project, says Tim Nesbitt, the TDOT engineer for the $13.2 million Audelia/Buckner project.
Basic engineering common sense requires alleviating a floodplain when designing a construction project, Nesbitt says.
“It has to be raised out of a floodplain, or we’re not doing our job right,” Nesbitt says.
Not everyone agrees.
“I think it will visually damage the Norbuck Park area and Flagpole Hill,” says State Sen. John Carona, District 16, who is opposed to the project.
“There is overwhelming opposition by neighbors in the surrounding area.”
Carona says he hasn’t seen any research substantiating area traffic concerns. Instead, Carona says the project caters to non-neighborhood residents, who will bring more traffic into the area if an overpass is built.
The portion of Northwest Highway projected to be a six-lane overpass is between West Lawther and East Lawther. The overpass will route vehicles over Buckner and Audelia roads, which would be joined by constructing an S-shaped curve under the overpass, Walne says.
Texas-DOT and the City have been working on the project for the past three years.
The construction area floods once every other year, Gempel says, and Northwest Highway is closed for about half a day.
Gempel says he’d rather deal with the occasional half-day flooding rather than permanently losing neighborhood park land.
The overpass project requires removal of 40 trees and encompasses eight acres along the Greenbelt park land, which links park land along Northwest Highway between West Lawther and White Rock Lake.
Immediately surrounding the affected area, Flagpole Hill encompasses 94 acres, Norbuck Park includes 100 acres, White Rock Lake land acreage is 754 acres, and the Greenbelt strip includes 497 acres, according to Dallas’ Parks and Recreation Department.
Walne’s solution to neighbors’ complaints is to form a beautification committee to address aesthetics, tree replantings and shrubbery placement.
“The area will be turned into a park setting rather than an LBJ freeway.” Walne says.
Neighbors also anticipate excessive speeds on Northwest Highway if an overpass replaces the intersection.
“TDOT says the average speed people will drive is 37 miles per hour,” Gempel says. “That’s crazy. We know they’re going to be driving 70 miles per hour.”
Walne says the project’s positives outweigh the negatives.
For example, people tend to forget that the overpass will join Flagpole Hill and Norbuck Park, which are currently separated by Northwest Highway.
Also, Walne says the main east/west corridor for this portion of the City shouldn’t be located in a floodplain for emergency reasons, Walne says.
The overpass also will help route traffic away from White Rock Trail, Walne says.
“We have to weigh how this affects the City as a whole,” Walne says, “not only the neighborhood residents.”
A public meeting concerning the plans will be held this summer. For information, call 214-670-4262.
