Officials at the McKinney City Council meeting said no route has been selected for the proposed roadway.
The potential US 380 bypass brought dozens of residents to council chambers to voice opposition during Tuesday's McKinney City Council meeting.[/caption]“TxDOT will work with the public, the municipalities and county to come to a consensus after due diligence and feasibility studies have been performed,” said Michelle Raglon, spokesperson for the Texas Department of Transportation. “[We] will work in conjunction with these entities to develop an informed decision on the preferred alternative [route].”
An online petition has been created opposing the US 380 bypass plans, and as of Wednesday morning had garnered 723 signatures from McKinney residents and 202 signatures from non-McKinney residents. However, officials argued, the opposition may be premature.
“The TxDOT process is not overnight,” Raglon said.
TxDOT is about to begin a feasibility study that Raglon said will compare route alternatives based on engineering and environmental factors and public involvement. The study is not expected to be complete until spring 2019.
McKinney Mayor Brian Loughmiller said the city staff will continue to look into potential routes and bypass connections along US 380.
“This project is a state project, driven by TxDOT because it is a state highway and even the county is involved,” he said. “If we do nothing, they will basically make a decision and from a council perspective we want to have some say on what we are willing to recommend but we are just not there yet.”
Loughmiller said there would be multiple routes considered as the city continues its master thoroughfare and comprehensive plan update.
The discussion of the expanding US 380 into a major highway has been taking place on a regional level for months as the North Central Texas Council of Governments prepares to funnel state funding into local road projects.
NCTCOG reached out to Collin County and asked for a list of the area’s top priority roadways—roads that are either already at capacity and need to be expanded or new roads that need to provide relief from major arterials like US 75.
For Collin County, US 380 was an immediate candidate for the list as congestion on the roadway inches from McKinney to the county line in both directions. The NCTCOG and TxDOT also focused on figuring out a way to provide relief for the at-capacity roadway by conducting a TxDOT study to identify a solution. That solution came in the form of a widening project that would turn the roadway into a red-light-free highway.
Cities like Frisco and Prosper, where the needed right-of-way is available, signed resolutions last summer supporting widening US 380.
But the city of McKinney signed a resolution last May opposing the widening of the roadway, citing a lack of available right of way because homes and businesses had already been built along the corridor.
This opposition spurred discussions of a potential bypass around McKinney that would allow US 380 to be expanded.
This week, the NCTCOG gave a briefing to the Collin County Commissioners Court that outlined what they feel are the most crucial roadway problems and reiterated their concerns about US 380.
Jeff Neal, NCTCOG program manager in charge of corridor planning project development, said the bypass is included in a list of Collin County roadways being considered priorities include additional north-south corridors, a section of the outer loop from the Dallas North Tollway to SH 121 and from US 380 to the Rockwall County line.
Neal said the list was developed as part of state House Bill 20, which asks for a 10-year plan from local governments to assist TxDOT in selecting and prioritizing projects to expedite construction. The list compiled by NCTCOG was approved in December 2016.
“It took about six months to complete this and it was approved in December 2016,” Neal said. “Of the available funding, there’s about $700 million that’s set aside for Collin County. The projects on the list are what we call the Collin County Roadway Action Plan and the money listed has been official set aside for these road projects.”
Of the available $700 million available, Neal said $252 million is set aside for the potential US 380 McKinney bypass.
