Southlake to continue addressing road congestion, sidewalk gaps
Seventy-five percent of Southlake residents feel safe walking around their neighborhoods at night. Moving around the city, however, remains a challenge.
The 2011 Southlake Citizen Survey found that residents ranked traffic conditions and pedestrian mobility as their top priorities.
"Survey respondents have told us for years that trails and sidewalks are important to them," City Manager Shana Yelverton said in an email. "This is why we have invested heavily into our trail and sidewalk network over the past several years. In fact, over 9.5 miles of sidewalk [were] constructed since 2009. We have received a large grant and are working with the Texas Department of Transportation to 'fill in' the sidewalk gaps along FM 1709."
More than 800 residents late last year graded their satisfaction of the city's services, from maintaining appearance of parks, landscapes and facilities to managing trash and recycling collection to providing pedestrian pathways.
Constructing sidewalks, trails
As part of the city's capital improvement program, the Southlake City Council allocates money every year to construct sidewalks and trails in the city. Last fiscal year, the city budgeted $800,000 for sidewalks. The city completed a trail in Bicentennial Park, a sidewalk from West Kirkwood Boulevard to North White Chapel Boulevard, and a school connector from North White Chapel Boulevard at the new Walnut Grove Elementary School.
Since fiscal year 2009, the city has completed more than 25 trail, sidewalk and school connector projects as part of its capital improvement program. The city budgeted $400,000 this year. During its Feb. 21 meeting, the City Council identified this year's priority sidewalk projects. Work is anticipated to begin in May and finish in September for the addition of sidewalks in three locations (see Page 9 sidebar).
"Southlake has made significant progress in the last few years in addressing nonautomotive connectivity throughout the city," Southlake's 2007 Sidewalk Plan report reads. "However, there are numerous missing sidewalk links in the existing network and the majority of neighborhoods (80 percent) do not have any sidewalks."
The City Council approved ordinances in November 2006 that require all new commercial and residential developments to add sidewalks along city streets.
"In the past, we didn't have an ordinance requiring them to be built with developments, so we have an awful lot of subdivisions, a lot of business frontage, where sidewalks were never built previously," said Gordon Mayer, deputy director of the city's Public Works Department. "So now we are playing catch up."
Citizens' concerns
Top issues on Southlake residents' minds are school budget and funding, oil and gas drilling, and traffic congestion.
The Carroll Independent School District is facing a now projected $5 million budget deficit. Its board of trustees is considering various options to help balance the budget to fill gaps left by public education funding cuts from the Texas Legislature.
The city froze its oil and gas drilling applications last year so city staff could update its ordinances, taking into consideration environmental concerns and technology changes.
Respondents ranked the city's services in managing traffic congestion as 99 percent importance, but their satisfaction for the city's efforts in addressing that category dropped by 16 percentage points between 2009 and 2011.
Since November 2010, the city has added raised medians and deceleration lanes along FM 1709 (Southlake Boulevard). The city plans to finish the transformation of FM 1709 into a six-lane divided roadway from Hwy. 114 to Hwy. 377 in Keller by the end of September. Ongoing construction and concerns about the FM 1709 medians have affected residents' opinions about mobility in getting around, in and out of the city, Yelverton said.
"As the area has continued to grow, demand to accommodate more vehicles has grown," she said. "With FM 1709 medians and deceleration lanes, the DFW Connector, Hwy. 26 and the North Tarrant Express (121/183) projects all under construction, there is plenty to be frustrated about with the area's traffic movement. Drivers are looking to avoid these construction areas and, as a result, it is likely that traffic has increased on certain city streets."
Yelverton said the city is working to address residents' traffic concerns with projects such as widening Kimball Avenue and improving intersections with roundabouts; constructing parallel roadways along FM 1709 and Hwy. 114; and re-striping projects to add capacity in areas such as the recently finished project at Byron Nelson and Continental Boulevard.
The city is conducting a traffic signal timing study in an effort to ease FM 1709 traffic congestion. The city plans to review the new traffic patterns and work with TxDOT to adjust the timing of signals to allow for more efficient traffic movement through the corridor, Yelverton said.
Southlake Police Chief Stephen Mylett said a majority of Southlake residents responded in the survey that they felt safe to move around the city during the day and night.
Although respondents believe crime has increased in the city, 75 percent said they felt safe walking around their neighborhoods during the evening.
Quality of life rating
Overall, nine out of 10 residents were satisfied with quality of life in Southlake, ranking their experience as "excellent" or "very good." They consider Southlake a place to live and raise a family.
"I was particularly proud that the survey showed very high levels of satisfaction with the various services we provide, and that residents enjoy a high quality of life," Yelverton said.
The city's 2011 survey was conducted from Nov. 1 to Dec. 19, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent at a 95 percent confidence level.
To view the entire survey, visit www.cityofsouthlake.com.
