The corners surrounding Skillman-635 are ripe for redevelopment, experts say. They also tell us that success depends on funding of the I-635 East expansion project, which state legislators are considering this session: Photo by Danny Fulgencio
For a couple of months now we have been writing about the potential future of Lake Highlands as it relates to the Skillman-LBJ (I-635) area, the gateway to middle Lake Highlands.
It starts with the realignment of Skillman, a project you can read all about here. In chorus with that, a committee of professionals and volunteers along with City of Dallas and Texas Department of Transportation created and approved a master plan for development in the surrounding area — read more about that here. The successful overhaul of this area depends vastly on an additional major project — 635 East expansion.
None of these aforementioned hopes or dreams for this region is fully funded.
The 635 East project, which costs an estimated $673 million and includes expansion and improvement along about 10.8 miles between Central and I-30, is in a position to receive funding during the 84th Session of the Texas Legislature.
However, the project risks missing-out on funding if we do not let our representatives know that we support the project, according to neighborhood activists including Lake Highlands Area Improvement Association president Murray Morgan and Lake Highlands Public Improvement District director Kathy Stewart, among others.
One of the problems is that people hear that the 635 East expansion includes managed lanes, toll lanes in other words, and they tell the representatives they do not want this, Morgan recently explained to us. The thing is, free lanes will still exist along the improved 635 East. The toll lanes will be additional, just as they are along 635 Express to the north. And, more importantly, they are necessary to getting the project done.
Our state senators don’t want to use toll lanes, Stewart writes in an email to neighborhood homeowners, “but unfortunately there really isn’t another tool to pay for major highway projects right now.”
She urges us to let them know that we support the project, and she passes along instructions from Dean International, a public policy consultant hired by the cities of Dallas, Garland and Mesquite, on how precisely to do so.
“It is time to call our state representatives and senators,” Stewart adds in her message. “TX DOT has been planning the expansion for years. Now the Legislature is working out how to pay for it. It is vital to the future of eastern Dallas County and most especially to Lake Highlands that we get the upgrades and improvements to LBJ that the part of the city west of Central Expressway has gotten. If the dollars aren’t spent here in our community, they will be spent somewhere else.”
The instructions that follow — from Dean International and intended for use by those who wish to support and expedite the I-635 East project by calling senator and representative offices — are pretty exhaustive, so before I lay them out, I’ll remind you that you can read more about TX DOT plans for 635 expansion project here. Also, the Advocate’s April issue will include more reporting on the whole thing.
And don’t forget to read the two stories I mentioned earlier — here and here — to learn how this project ties in to the overall improvement of north Lake Highlands.
Now, here is how to most effectively voice your support for the I-635 East project, according to consultants at Dean International.
Call the I-635 delegation and encourage friends and family members to do the same. We need hundreds of calls to reach our state legislators.
Here are the names and phone numbers of the eight delegation members; a portion of the 635 East project exists in each of these senator/representatives’ districts. Call all of them if you can:
Senator Bob Hall, 512.463.0102
Senator Don Huffines, 512.463.0116
Senator Van Taylor 512.463.0108
Representative Cindy Burkett, 512.463.0464
Representative Angie Chen Button, 512.463.0486
Representative Linda Koop, 512.463.0454
Representative Kenneth Sheets, 512.463.0244
Representative Jason Villalba, 512.463.0576.
State you personal support for the I-635 East project to the above legislative offices.
Acknowledge that you understand the project includes user-fee managed lanes and that you support it, on the condition that there is additional capacity in the main lanes that is below grade.
State support for the I-635 East project having continuous frontage roads from Central to I-30.
Express your desire for the I-635 East project, by the end of the Session, on June 1, 2015, to have all authorizations and funding necessary to have it under construction as soon as possible, without delay.
You will likely not be able to speak to the senator or representative when you call. Ask for a staff member who is working on transportation issues.
Please state to the person on the phone if you are a part of any community groups or organizations (crime watch, homeowner association, for example) and what city the organization is located. Ask the person on the phone, who you have stated all of this information to, to please relay this information to the senator or representative. Ask them to call you with the senator’s or representative’s response to your support and give them your phone number. State that if you do not hear back within two days, you will call back.
It is important to be kind, quick and polite. Your goal is not to get into a long discussion regarding the project but to register your support.
The consultants ask residents to please call or email them after you have spoken to the eight offices and offer any notes you think are important —rschaffner@dean.net or 940.782.5636
