TxDOT Gives North Texas Highway 'F' Grade
DENTON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - The longer Viki Dunn has lived in Denton County, the longer her commute to work in Plano has gotten.
Before, less than an hour each way. Now, it's closer to two hours.
She sees car crashes and frustration from drivers increasing.
"Because people do get kind of angry about having to wait and other people no waiting their turn, you do end up getting a lot of road rage," said Dunn.
TxDOT acknowledges safety concerns on Highway 380, saying the road is at capacity and actually giving it an "F" grade.
Ryan LaFontaine of the Texas Department of Transportation explained, "The population in North Texas is growing fast. The number of cars on the roads is growing fast. So we feel like, when we look down the road in 15 to 20 years from now, there's definitely going to be a need."
Denton County is projected to have 3,000,000 people by 2050.
Highway 380 serves Denton County, but also neighboring Collin County, which is also booming.
TxDOT is already planning to take Highway 380 from a four to six-lane highway, to six lanes all the way.
Tuesday night, it showed these east to west alternative routes were highways could be built to alleviate traffic.
"We definitely don't want it happening in our backyard," said Little Elm resident Liz Tucker.
One of those alternatives goes through Tucker's neighborhood.
She's showed up to the meeting hoping Highway 380 traffic stays exactly where it already is... on Highway 380 turned into a freeway.
A very real possibility.
LaFontaine said, "Center lane down the middle of it, there's a 75 mile an hour speed limit, no lights, no u-turns. There's on ramps, off ramps."
More public meetings will be held on the topic.
Construction on improvements wouldn't start for at least a decade.