Many drivers are all too familiar with the numerous collisions and bumper-to-bumper traffic on US 380 in Collin County. Now the Texas Department of Transportation and Collin County officials are trying to provide solutions to mitigate congestion on the roadway. TxDOT released five alignment options and roadway options for US 380 in late April with hopes to alleviate congestion on the four- to six-lane divided roadway. Shortly after in May, Collin County commissioners called for a $750 million bond referendum to appear on the November ballot, of which Collin County Judge Keith Self said a “major chunk” of the bond would jump-start work on US 380. Self said while the county does not yet have a position on the alignments released by TxDOT, it is essential something be done to improve traffic on the roadway. “The issue of McKinney [is US] 75 and 380. That intersection and the associated parts of 380 with it is the toughest nut to crack in Collin County,” he said. “ … If we can solve that McKinney 380 issue, it would go a long way to solving the transportation issues in central Collin County.”

Alignment options

Existing congestion on US 380 during rush hour, in engineering terms, is rated an F level—or the worst level—of service. This means the number of cars on the road exceed the road’s capacity, which reduces travel speed, and increases congestion and delays in traffic, according to TxDOT officials. In 2010 an average of 23,950 cars drove on US 380 in Collin County every day. In 2016, which is the most recent data available, an average of 31,303 cars drove on this same stretch of US 380, according to TxDOT. While residents agree something needs to be done on US 380, many are concerned with or against the alignments proposed by TxDOT, according to Community Impact Newspaper interviews. Proposed alignments include shifting the roadway farther south; shifting the roadway farther north; or moving a portion of the road to the northern or southern portions of cities such as McKinney, New Hope, Princeton and Farmersville. Residents living in the Tucker Hill neighborhood, for example, are against all alignment options. TxDOT’s alignments would box in the development, stop growth, wipe out homes already built or create a freeway nearly 150 feet from homes in the development, said Tucker Hill resident Kim Carmichael, who also formed a US 380 committee in the neighborhood. Businesses owners along the roadway, such as Signarama owners Alan and Cheryl Schmoyer, are also awaiting their fate. Construction on US 380 would make it hard for customers to reach Signarama and other nearby businesses, effectively killing their business, Cheryl Schmoyer said. TxDOT and government officials say it is too early to tell which alignment will be selected and that this project has many unknowns, including its effect on residents and a timeline for completion. TxDOT Public Information Officer Ryan LaFontaine said the earliest construction would begin is five to six years. “I think six years is probably reasonable because it’s easier on an existing alignment to get the [environmentals] done, for instance,” Self said. “The engineering will be a little bit different. The two long poles in the tent, the two hang ups, would be public input and right of way acquisition.”

Proposed county bond

Collin County commissioners voted 5-0 on May 7 to call for a $750 million bond referendum, which will have three propositions. Propositions include $600 million for limited-access roadway, or LAR, projects, $140 million for arterial roads and $10 million for open space and parks. The proposition for LAR projects, or freeways, will be general funding for projects, which could include US 380, the Collin County Outer Loop and a north-south corridor, Precinct 4 Commissioner Duncan Webb said. According to Collin County documents, anywhere from $328.1 million-$421.8 million of the $600 million proposition could be used for projects along US 380. “What the bond means is, we have now money available, should the voters approve the $600 million to start some of the pre-work, I’ll call it—some of the engineering cost, some of the design cost, maybe some of the environmental costs,” Self said. If the $600 million bond proposition does not pass, Self said there would be roughly $45 million already authorized from the 2007 bond for the county to put toward US 380 and other projects. He said US 380 will remain the county’s No. 1 priority. “These [bond] funds will help accelerate the development of large-scale transportation infrastructure in the county, which is way behind,” Webb said. “… If I get consensus tomorrow and I get [the] bond issue approved in November, the best case that you’ll see this thing [on US 380] open is 10 years.”

Population and traffic

From 2017-18, the city of McKinney added 10,260 new residents, and Frisco also added 11,540 people, according to the North Central Texas Council of Governments’ April 2018 population estimates. As more people move to cities within Collin County, the county’s population is expected to increase by 116 percent by 2040, and a large part of that growth is expected to take place along and north of US 380, according to Collin County documents. Nursing student Molly McQuiston, who drives on US 380 every weekday from Custer Road to US 75, said traffic on the roadway is already bad especially when there is a car accident. According to TxDOT’s US 380 travel time estimator tool, it should take McQuiston 16 minutes to get from the Dallas North Tollway to US 75. If no improvements are made to the roadway by 2045 her commute time would nearly double to 29 minutes, according to TxDOT’s travel time estimator. Some residents, such as Kevin Voigt, who lives along Bloomdale Road in McKinney, wonder if the Collin County Outer Loop will be more beneficial in reducing traffic in the county rather than realigning US 380. The Outer Loop would extend east from the Denton County and Collin County line south to Rockwall County. “The spacing between [SH 121] and the future Collin County Outer Loop is approximately 14 miles, but optimal freeway spacing is generally considered to be 5-10 miles in urbanized areas,” said Ceason Clemens, director of transportation, planning and development for TxDOT, during a public meeting. The distance between the Collin County Outer Loop and existing US 380 is roughly 5 miles, LaFontaine said.

What is next?

TxDOT is evaluating all public feedback and plans to present one alignment to residents in the fall. In the meantime, LaFontaine said it will be conducting a variety of studies to determine the alignments’ environmental impact and effect on residents and businesses. When one alignment is selected a cost estimate for the project will also be available, LaFontaine said. McKinney Mayor George Fuller said all options to alleviate US 380 are on the table and that at this time council does not have a formal opinion on the alignments presented to the public.