The TxDOT Cutoff
Drivers rerouted by 121
The Colony: City upset by plans to close part of major thoroughfare
October 5, 2006
By BRANDON FORMBY
The Dallas Morning News
Copyright 2006
THE COLONY – For years, commuters who live on The Colony's east side have relied on Morning Star Drive to get them to State Highway 121 and out of town.
But in about two weeks, the hundreds of motorists who daily use the intersection to get them to Frisco and the Dallas North Tollway will have to find indirect routes when they leave the lakeside suburb.
The Texas Department of Transportation is expected to permanently close the small portion of roadway that connects northbound Highway 121 to Morning Star sometime between Oct. 18 and 20.
Morning Star, which runs to North Colony Boulevard, will dead-end at the southbound Highway 121 service road. The closure will allow construction crews to build the main lanes of Highway 121, which will be a tollway when it opens in 2008.
It's a move that's already disappointed some officials in The Colony, who lobbied the state transportation agency to build a bridge so Highway 121's main lanes would run above Morning Star.
"It's not going to be convenient in any way," said Allen Harris, one of two council members who voted against tolls on Highway 121 in 2004.
Officials from The Colony and the Transportation Department said that as plans were drawn for Highway 121 several years ago, Morning Star was never expected to be anything more than a minor side street. Instead, it's grown into a major thoroughfare.
"In their initial plans, it was not a major cross street," said Angela Loston, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Department.
Also, since 121 was originally intended to be a free highway, officials thought there would be more time to finalize plans. But when area cities agreed to make Highway 121 a toll road, its construction was put on the fast track.
"When everything was being firmed up in 1999 to 2000, no one recognized this as a problem," said Steve Eubanks, The Colony's public works director. "I think the logic worked great until the construction along 121 got accelerated."
Though city officials begged the state agency to figure out a way to maintain Morning Star and Highway 121's full interchange, transportation officials said it was too late because designs were done and there were too many other factors – a railroad track overpass and nearby entrance and exit ramps – to go back to the drawing board.
Ms. Loston said the Transportation Department sympathizes with residents and kept the intersection open as long as possible.
"If we keep it open any longer, it will impact our progress with the main lanes along 121," she said.
In anticipation of traffic problems, the Transportation Department will open U-turn lanes at the Paige Road interchange with Highway 121, west of Morning Star. This will allow people who use Morning Star to turn right onto service roads, make a U-turn and head north on the highway.
They can also turn left at Paige, which turns into Plano Parkway to the south and hooks up with the Dallas North Tollway in Plano.
But city officials are still less than pleased. Mr. Harris isn't happy that the U-turn lanes at Spring Creek Parkway aren't open yet. That means people traveling northbound on Highway 121 can't get to Morning Star unless they turn left sooner, such as at Paige, or go through two lights at Spring Creek before turning around and coming back down the southbound service lanes.
"Our residents are going to have quite a bit of adjustments to make," Mr. Harris said.
City officials are also looking into the possible expansion of Memorial Drive, which runs parallel to Highway 121. Their idea is to connect that street with Spring Creek so that there would still be a fairly convenient connection to 121 on the city's east side.
Officials have begun talks with the North Central Texas Council of Governments to secure funding and with Frisco officials because the connection would have to go through that city. It could take up to four years to complete if it happens, though officials are also searching for ways to make it a reality sooner.
"Our No. 1 project for the next couple of years is going to be Memorial, to make everything smoother," Mr. Eubanks said. "We can't get it built quick enough."
But even as those plans move through the pipeline, disdain for the loss of Morning Star's full intersection lingers. The traffic light on northbound Highway 121 will go away when the intersection does. But it's still not clear whether a light will remain on southbound lanes at Morning Star when the main lanes open in more than a year.
Mr. Harris also takes issue with the fact that the Transportation Department wants only one right-turn lane from Morning Star onto southbound 121. That means the two current lanes will have to be funneled into one lane, possibly causing more traffic woes.
Council member Joel Marks, who also voted against tolling Highway 121, expressed his frustration at a council meeting Monday. When Mr. Eubanks informed the council of plans to place signs throughout the area to warn motorists of the pending change, Mr. Marks suggested that the state should also incur the cost of putting signs up since "it's their highway."
"On ours [sign], tell them we're disappointed we don't have a bridge," Mr. Marks said.
E-mail bformby@dallasnews.com
© 2006 The Dallas Morning News Co www.dallasnews.com
The Colony: City upset by plans to close part of major thoroughfare
October 5, 2006
By BRANDON FORMBY
The Dallas Morning News
Copyright 2006
THE COLONY – For years, commuters who live on The Colony's east side have relied on Morning Star Drive to get them to State Highway 121 and out of town.
But in about two weeks, the hundreds of motorists who daily use the intersection to get them to Frisco and the Dallas North Tollway will have to find indirect routes when they leave the lakeside suburb.
The Texas Department of Transportation is expected to permanently close the small portion of roadway that connects northbound Highway 121 to Morning Star sometime between Oct. 18 and 20.
Morning Star, which runs to North Colony Boulevard, will dead-end at the southbound Highway 121 service road. The closure will allow construction crews to build the main lanes of Highway 121, which will be a tollway when it opens in 2008.
It's a move that's already disappointed some officials in The Colony, who lobbied the state transportation agency to build a bridge so Highway 121's main lanes would run above Morning Star.
"It's not going to be convenient in any way," said Allen Harris, one of two council members who voted against tolls on Highway 121 in 2004.
Officials from The Colony and the Transportation Department said that as plans were drawn for Highway 121 several years ago, Morning Star was never expected to be anything more than a minor side street. Instead, it's grown into a major thoroughfare.
"In their initial plans, it was not a major cross street," said Angela Loston, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Department.
Also, since 121 was originally intended to be a free highway, officials thought there would be more time to finalize plans. But when area cities agreed to make Highway 121 a toll road, its construction was put on the fast track.
"When everything was being firmed up in 1999 to 2000, no one recognized this as a problem," said Steve Eubanks, The Colony's public works director. "I think the logic worked great until the construction along 121 got accelerated."
Though city officials begged the state agency to figure out a way to maintain Morning Star and Highway 121's full interchange, transportation officials said it was too late because designs were done and there were too many other factors – a railroad track overpass and nearby entrance and exit ramps – to go back to the drawing board.
Ms. Loston said the Transportation Department sympathizes with residents and kept the intersection open as long as possible.
"If we keep it open any longer, it will impact our progress with the main lanes along 121," she said.
In anticipation of traffic problems, the Transportation Department will open U-turn lanes at the Paige Road interchange with Highway 121, west of Morning Star. This will allow people who use Morning Star to turn right onto service roads, make a U-turn and head north on the highway.
They can also turn left at Paige, which turns into Plano Parkway to the south and hooks up with the Dallas North Tollway in Plano.
But city officials are still less than pleased. Mr. Harris isn't happy that the U-turn lanes at Spring Creek Parkway aren't open yet. That means people traveling northbound on Highway 121 can't get to Morning Star unless they turn left sooner, such as at Paige, or go through two lights at Spring Creek before turning around and coming back down the southbound service lanes.
"Our residents are going to have quite a bit of adjustments to make," Mr. Harris said.
City officials are also looking into the possible expansion of Memorial Drive, which runs parallel to Highway 121. Their idea is to connect that street with Spring Creek so that there would still be a fairly convenient connection to 121 on the city's east side.
Officials have begun talks with the North Central Texas Council of Governments to secure funding and with Frisco officials because the connection would have to go through that city. It could take up to four years to complete if it happens, though officials are also searching for ways to make it a reality sooner.
"Our No. 1 project for the next couple of years is going to be Memorial, to make everything smoother," Mr. Eubanks said. "We can't get it built quick enough."
But even as those plans move through the pipeline, disdain for the loss of Morning Star's full intersection lingers. The traffic light on northbound Highway 121 will go away when the intersection does. But it's still not clear whether a light will remain on southbound lanes at Morning Star when the main lanes open in more than a year.
Mr. Harris also takes issue with the fact that the Transportation Department wants only one right-turn lane from Morning Star onto southbound 121. That means the two current lanes will have to be funneled into one lane, possibly causing more traffic woes.
Council member Joel Marks, who also voted against tolling Highway 121, expressed his frustration at a council meeting Monday. When Mr. Eubanks informed the council of plans to place signs throughout the area to warn motorists of the pending change, Mr. Marks suggested that the state should also incur the cost of putting signs up since "it's their highway."
"On ours [sign], tell them we're disappointed we don't have a bridge," Mr. Marks said.
E-mail bformby@dallasnews.com
© 2006 The Dallas Morning News Co
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Thursday, October 05, 2006
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