So far, three businesses have closed in a McKinney shopping center at the northwest corner of University Drive and Walnut Grove Road—Jason’s Deli, White Rhino Coffee and 3Natives, all citing right-of-way acquisitions for the US 380 bypass.
Nhi Pham, optometrist and owner at Eyedeal Eyecare in Prosper, said her business has slowed down since construction began.
“Who wants to deal with the traffic, right?” Pham said. “Who wants to deal with finding a way into the shopping center?”
Lacey Yates, owner and dentist at Frisco Crossing Dental Group, said she has seen a decrease in patients, adding that some patients decline to schedule followup appointments because they “avoid this area like the plague.”
“My business was thriving for the first couple of years,” Yates said. “In the last year, everything has just dropped out the bottom.”
As drivers face increased traffic, the planned projects along US 380 are expected to address roadway congestion as many as 30 years into the future, TxDOT representative Madison Schein said.
The specifics
Ahead of population growth in the area, planning work on the US 380 bypass is underway, which will create an eight-lane controlled access freeway with frontage roads routed through north McKinney.
The project will also include constructing a six-lane highway with frontage roads through Frisco and Prosper, as well as other expansions to the roadway in Princeton and Farmersville. The Collin County-wide project is expected to cost nearly $8 billion, according to TxDOT documents.
Evaluation of the roadway was initially requested by the county’s commissioners following a 2019 planning session for the county’s transportation infrastructure, said Clarence Daugherty, director of engineering for Collin County. Following a final decision on the alignment of the US 380 bypass in September 2023, TxDOT officials have begun right-of-way acquisitions for properties and land parcels in the path of the planned road construction in McKinney. The final alignment selected for the bypass favored Prosper.
“The new US 380 alignment will transform Prosper, driving economic growth on the east side by improving access for both residents and businesses,” Prosper Mayor David Bristol said in an email. “This direct route will enhance quality of life and position Prosper as a thriving hub in North Texas.”
Bristol said the project represents progress and preparation for the future to help benefit residents in the long run.
“As Prosper continues to grow rapidly, this project is essential to ensuring we have the infrastructure needed to support that growth responsibly and sustainably,” he said.
On the McKinney side of US 380, Jason’s Deli was one of the earliest businesses to close due to acquisitions, and other stores in the same shopping center saw customer traffic decrease following the closure.
“As soon as ... the community started to hear wind of, ‘This area is going to close,’ traffic started getting much slower,” 3Natives owner Jin Mocanu said. “It’s been downhill.”
Madi Morales, assistant general manager of a Papa John’s location in the shopping center, said she was the first person at the store, which opened in January, to learn that they would be forced to close for the bypass. Morales informed the Papa Johns corporate office but added that TxDOT didn’t inform Papa Johns until several months later.
“We don’t know anything,” Morales said. “We don’t know when they are tearing us down. We don’t know when our last day is or if they are just going to come in and say ‘get out.’”
Frisco Director of Engineering Jason Brodigan said Frisco city staff have been involved in conversations with TxDOT representatives throughout construction.
“We attend all the construction meetings,” he said. “We are aware of what they’re doing. We don’t always get the input we want, but we’re aware and we’re adjusting.”
Frisco staff are also aware of residents’ complaints of congestion along US 380 and have been closely monitoring the roads to implement the best traffic signal timing they can during construction, Brodigan said.
“We all just want it to get finished,” he said.
Diving in deeper
The various projects along the roadway, which have been in progress for more than five years, are expected to accommodate future growth while also increasing the level of service of the current roadway, Schein said.
Portions of roadway currently have a level of service ranked “F” on an A-F scale, indicating significant delays and unstable traffic conditions during peak traffic times.
The Texas A&M Transportation Institute named the McKinney portion of the roadway as the 44th most congested roadway in the state, causing over 120,000 annual hours of delay per mile, according to TxDOT documents. The roadway also saw higher crash rates than the statewide average for highways.
The institute also named the section of US 380 from US 377 to the Dallas North Tollway as the 70th of 100 most congested roadways in the state, causing over 167,000 hours of delay per mile annually. That entire section is currently under construction as part of multiple TxDOT projects.
As the county’s population continues to grow, an increase in congestion and crashes would be expected along the roadway at its current capacity, which is an identified cause for the roadway expansion project, TxDOT documents state.
“Collin County is so good that it just continues to attract people,” Daugherty said. “I don’t know what’s going to stop that growth.”
Daugherty said the county is facing a challenge to provide necessary transportation infrastructure for both residents of cities in Collin County, as well as residents in unincorporated parts of the county.
The county has little control over development that occurs outside of city limits, which can lead to high-density developments that create space for more residents than county officials estimated, Daugherty said.
“We’ve got so much growth in the last three years outside of the cities,” he said.
As a result of growth throughout the county, US 380 is expected to see 114,400 drivers daily by 2050, according to TxDOT documents.
“When you see that Dallas County is 2.5 million [people], Tarrant County is about 2 million [people], and we’re going to be that size, and you look at the number of freeways in those counties, and what we have ... The problem is obvious,” Daugherty said.
Additional business closures and relocations are expected in McKinney as the right-of-way acquisition process continues. Work to relocate utility lines in conflict with the road project will also occur prior to construction.
The Collin County Commissioner’s Court committed $227 million in funding assistance for affected cities to assist with the cost of necessary utility relocation.
In McKinney, officials estimate that it will cost $150 million to relocate 65,000 feet of water lines and 16,000 feet of wastewater lines. Cost estimates from other cities have not been finalized, Daugherty said.
Adam Tillery, owner of Menchie’s in Windsong Ranch Marketplace, said traffic on US 380 is a significant problem, which has negatively impacted his business as fewer drivers are traveling to the yogurt shop from the west.
“It’s only going to get worse,” Tillery said of the planned construction, adding that the community’s growth is exacerbating the traffic.
Once construction is complete, Tillery said he thinks it will be a benefit to his business and the community.
Pet Evolution Frisco owner Neil Sheth said he is overall excited for the potential benefits the project will bring his business once construction is completed.
“It will bring people who have been avoiding [US] 380, back to [US] 380,” Sheth said.
The area has a lot to offer, Yates said. Once the construction is complete, she believes people will patronize the area more frequently—but is unsure if she can wait that long.
The first US 380 construction project is set to be awarded in 2027, Schein said. The project sections will be conducted based on traffic needs and funding available.
“Construction, it gets worse before it gets better,” Daugherty said.
Next steps
Portions of the roadway will proceed at various times, with sections being deemed "ready to let", meaning conditions are met to allow the project to be bid on, according to TxDOT's website.
- Frisco and Prosper section — Ready to let: 2026
- McKinney section — Ready to let: 2027
- Spur 399 — US 380 to US 75 — Ready to let: 2026
- Princeton section — Ready to let: 2027
- Farmersville section — Ready to let: 2026
