I-635 passing through Lake Highlands. Photo by Danny Fulgencio
The LBJ East expansion project potentially can change the face of Lake Highlands, making our neighborhood more convenient, secure and all-around desirable.
But it is a project that has, like LBJ traffic most days, been at a standstill for far too long.
District 10 councilman Adam McGough says Lake Highlands residents can help it along, by remaining informed and speaking out in favor of accelerating the project. One of the easiest and most efficient ways to do so is to attend a meeting next Tuesday, April 19, from 5-7 p.m. at Highland Oaks Church of Christ, 10805 Walnut Hill.
“TxDOT (Texas Department of Transportation) has finally taken action to consider this project, (and) now it’s time for your voice to be heard and ensure this is a priority project, and its design truly addresses the mobility needs in our community,” McGough notes.
The meeting hosted by the North Central Texas Council of Governments will address transportation issues impacting our neighborhood, specifically the Skillman Gateway project, the I-635 sound wall and the I-635 East expansion.
Stressing the importance of resident participation McGough notes, “These meetings are recorded, and public comments are used to justify the funding of certain projects. Your comments do make a difference. We need to speak loudly and with one voice to ensure the transportation needs affecting Lake Highlands and District 10 are a top priority.”
For more background on the project and its importance, read the Advocate feature Neighborhood revitalization depends on fixing the Skillman-I-635 intersection — and this is why and part two in our series on I-635 and Lake Highlands development (and there read the specifics of the project).
To understand what specifically we are supposed to be speaking out in favor of, here is what McGough said when the public meetings launched.
“These are positions I have heard most frequently from residents of District 10,” McGough began. “We support expediting the Skillma
We should insist that the LBJ East Expansion project be the highest-priority transportation project in the region, McGough notes. “We support the expansion even if it includes optional tolled express lanes from I-75 to Miller Road.”
The inclusion of those tolled lanes is possibly the single controversial item on this list of things for which we are asked to argue. However, McGough notes, “We understand that without the partial tolling of the optional express lanes, the project could be delayed indefinitely, and this project is essential to our quality of life and mobility.”
Even the representative (Cindy Burkett) who filed the bill to prevent the use of any tolls whatsoever told us (last summer) that: The clear alternative to adding tolled lanes is to accept a longer and more expensive construction period and that it is likely that representatives and their constituents will need to decide between a toll component and a longer, more expensive project.
He adds that “we need continuous frontage roads to help with access and provide opportunity for economic development to meet restaurant and retail needs.”
Another possible topic is the Skillman-I-635 Gateway park or “pedestrian cap,” which would look similar to Klyde Warren Park in Downtown Dallas — this is an addition recently brought up by McGough and others that has not yet been seriously proposed or discussed.
As an area of the city in desperate need of recreational amenities, McGough says, we should push for this green space.
Maps showing the proposed project’s location and design will be available for viewing at the public meeting. This information will also be available for public inspection Monday through Friday between 8am05pm at the TxDOT Dallas District Office located at 4777 East Highway 80, Mesquite, Texas 75150.
If you are unable to attend, written comments can be submitted through April 29 to Stephen Endres, P.E. at the TxDOT Dllas District Office, 4777 E. Highway 80, Mesquite, Texas 75150-6643.
