Progress on Sandy Lake Road!

I talked with Coppell City Manager Clay Phillips late last week and he informed me that it appears that some of the real estate right-of-way acquisition related to Sandy Lake Road westward from Denton Tap Road has come to a successful conclusion. It will take a few weeks to get the legal formalities handled, but this is exciting progress indeed. While Clay was expectedly circumspect with regard to when the project may actually be underway or completed, he assured me that this is a high priority for the City and that progress should be apparent within a relatively short timeframe.

The disappointing part (not surprising to me) is that the project scope will only run westward to the three-way intersection with Coppell Road, and will not, at this time, include the remainder (west from there to North Coppell Road) as that section was "federalized" some time back and the bridge and wetlands related to the creek crossing will cause ongoing delays and an undetermined timeline as of now.

Hopeful progress nonetheless...

Does Anyone Else Care?

School starts again next week. Just a couple of days ago I saw two boys on bicycles waiting for automobile traffic on Sandy Lake (west of Denton Tap, just east of Whispering Hills) to clear in both directions so that they could safely cross that very busy street. Thankfully they were successful and no harm came of their need to cross from the north side of Sandy Lake to the south side.

With school beginning next week that challenge will be repeated numerous times every day, as Coppell high schoolers who either by choice or economic circumstances find that they must get to and from school either by walking or aboard a bicycle. Bus service, despite the danger of crossing the roadway, is not a free option for most of those who live south of Sandy Lake Road.

Voters in our fair city approved the mandate to upgrade Sandy Lake from its crumbling two-lane asphalt, ditch-bordered status to a modern four-lane curbed concrete roadway. That election took place more than TEN YEARS AGO!

In the meantime we've seen the city build a lightly used amphitheater park, upgrade numerous lesser-used roads, begin construction on new tennis facilities, do repair work on already upgraded portions of Sandy Lake Road, spend millions of dollars on unusable (for now) land OUTSIDE the city and take almost NO action on the subject section of Sandy Lake.

When will the City Manager and City Council make this the priority project our students and citizens deserve?

Sandy Lake Road - No progress...

I had the occasion to speak to a city council member a few weeks ago and I was assured that the long-delayed (10 years is long to me...) Sandy Lake Road widening/rebuilding project from Denton Tap westward was almost ready to go forward. I hope that proves to be true.

I pray that the City get the necessary momentum behind this critical project before someone is seriously injured (or worse). While we (as a City) have long hidden behind the idea that getting the plans done, right of way acquired and cooperation with the Federal Government arranged due to the impact on creeks and lowlands have all created the delays, the fact is that HAD we truly made this project a priority it would have been completed long ago. I know, I know - there will have to be trees removed to make this project a reality. My intuition tells me that the tree issue is one of the main reasons this has all taken so long.

It is time to get this project moving forward and off of the planning board. Our children need a safe way to get to and from the High School, we all need the reduction in traffic congestion that will ultimately result, and we need the City Council to take action on what the voters very clearly noted to be a priority some 10 years ago.