Archives > Flower Mound Leader > News
Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
RSS
Share
Flyover causes unease for some; solutions in the works
By Chris Roark, croark@starlocalnews.com
The new flyover in Flower Mound was designed to relieve traffic heading southbound on Gerault Road onto southbound FM 2499.
And with the completion of the project last month, motorists can now bypass the traffic signal at the intersection and transition onto southbound FM 2499.
However, some residents say that transition is not a smooth one.
Online postings from various residents have echoed Lamb’s concerns.
Flower Mound police have said there have been no crashes at that merging point since the flyover opened Aug. 17.
Still, there are multiple efforts underway to address that intersection.
“We’re hoping to get there, but it’s just taken a while,” said Edith Marvin town engineer.
One effort involves the DFW Connector project, a $1 billion expansion of state highways 114 and 121 north of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Construction on the DFW Connector project began in February 2010 and will be substantially complete in mid-summer 2013.
The DFW Connector project’s original scope, related to FM 2499, included grade separations at two of the three signals south of Flower Mound – Stars and Stripes Way and Grapevine Mills Boulevard – to allow drivers to bypass the signals. Because of limited funding, these grade separations are not a part of the project’s current plans.
Matt Hotelling, the town’s traffic engineer, said the town is working with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to attempt to identify funding for improvements to FM 2499 farther north than the connector project goes, closer to Gerault.
That could do multiple things, Hotelling said. For one, it would create the possibility of reconfiguring and/or removing the traffic signal at the intersection of FM 2499 and Riverwalk Drive in Grapevine.
The signal is there to allow residents at the Riverwalk Apartments to exit south onto FM 2499.
“Part of the problem is that the traffic signal at the Riverwalk Apartments is inhibiting traffic flow,” Marvin said.
As soon as motorists get onto FM 2499 from the flyover, they face a traffic light at the entrance of Grapevine city limits, as well as a merging spot that one Flower Mound resident recently described as “clumsy.”
Bringing FM 2499 work farther north could also create an extended off ramp from the flyover to southbound FM 2499.
Stretching into Flower Mound was never part of the project, said Kristen Schropp, DFW Connector spokeswoman.
But having a dedicated lane from the flyover feed into the grade separations at Stars and Stripes and Grapevine Mills was part of Flower Mound’s vision. When the segment north of Grapevine Mills was not approved, Flower Mound had already gone forward with the flyover.
Another option, Marvin said, is the town working with TxDOT to get permission to transition the outermost southbound lane on southbound FM 2499 to move from three lanes to two lanes before reaching the flyover merge, thus giving motorists coming off the flyover a dedicated lane.
“Many people are learning to get over one lane anyway,” Marvin said. “But it could be done better. It’s not a dead issue. We’re still working on it.”
Marvin said the reason for this option is because 40 percent of the cars that are at that merge come from Gerault.
Hotelling said the timeframe for both options varies.
“Working with TxDOT, that could possibly be a near-term solution,” Hotelling said. “But it could be more than a year. This would be an interim solution until the DFW Connector is extended.”
Extending the DFW Connector project farther north won’t be as easy, he said.
“That’s more long-term,” Hotelling said. “That’s not going to be next year because the FM 2499 portion through Grapevine is not funded with this current project.”
Lamb said she hopes the issue is resolved quickly because of the possible approval of the Lakeside DFW mixed-use project proposed about a mile north of that intersection.
“I would like them to get this resolved before they do something that is going to add even more traffic,” said Lamb, who added that Lakeside DFW could bring in more than 2,000 residential units.
The flyover was part of Phase I of the Morriss/Gerault Road Improvement Project approved by the town council in 2009. The scope of Phase I also included the expansion of Gerault Road from four lanes to six lanes, intersection safety improvements, as well as fencing and landscaping along Morriss and Gerault roads.
Gerault Road’s portion of the project is complete, but Morriss Road, or Phase II, won’t be begin until 2019 or until the river walk amenity of The River Walk at Central Park development in central Flower Mound is complete.
The project was brought forward to help relieve expected traffic congestion on FM 2499 and Morriss Road by 2020.
Officials predicted FM 2499 will have an increase in traffic, in part because the road will expand north and connect to Interstate 35E near Lewisville Lake.
Officials said Morriss Road, as a result, would pick up much of the traffic from FM 2499, thus adding to its traffic load as well.
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
You must register with a valid email to post comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here:
Become a Registered User
- Return to: News «
- Home «
- Top of Page ^
