"Killing the road would devastate $5 billion worth of other regional transportation projects"

Sunday, October 7, 2007
By ELIZABETH LANGTON / The Dallas Morning News
elangton@dallasnews.com

The proposed Trinity Parkway would come nowhere near southwest Dallas County, but the region's top transportation planner considers the toll road crucial to transportation and economic development in Duncanville, Cedar Hill, DeSoto, Glenn Heights and Lancaster.

"The Trinity Parkway is this generation's Central Expressway," said Michael Morris, director of transportation for the North Central Texas Council of Governments.

Killing the road, as proposed in a referendum facing Dallas voters Nov. 6, would devastate $5 billion worth of other regional transportation projects, he said, including reconstruction of the Mixmaster and Canyon in downtown Dallas.

Mr. Morris' remarks Thursday night at the Southwest Dallas County Transportation Forum mirrored sentiments he expressed earlier in the week to a Dallas City Council committee.
But of the 150 people who attended the event, only four identified themselves as city of Dallas residents and thus eligible to vote on the issue.

"Hopefully, I have four votes," Mr. Morris said. "The rest of you need to lean on your neighbors in Dallas."

The two other featured speakers – district engineer Bill Hale of the Texas Department of Transportation and Dallas Logistics Hub representative Leslie Jutzi – also spoke against killing the toll road.

The Trinity Parkway would run about nine miles from U.S. Highway 175 southeast of downtown to where State Highway 183 splits off from Stemmons Freeway near Texas Stadium.

Proposition 1 on the Dallas ballot calls for blocking construction of the high-speed toll road planned inside the river levees as part of Dallas' Trinity River Corridor project, which also includes a park, trails and other amenities.

Though the speakers emphasized the Trinity Parkway issue, the audience appeared more interested in the proposed Loop 9, which would run around the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The southeast section would start at Interstate 20 in Mesquite, run near the Dallas-Ellis county line and pass through Lancaster, Glenn Heights and Cedar Hill.

An environmental impact study is under way, Mr. Hale said, and federal approval is expected by late next year. The state must wait for approval before buying property and starting construction.

The mayors of Duncanville, Cedar Hill, DeSoto, Glenn Heights and Lancaster jointly sponsored Thursday's forum. Duncanville Mayor David Green said they plan to repeat the gathering annually.

Courtesy of the Dallas Morning News, Sunday, October 7th 2007 Edition
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