Please add to your calendars next tuesday, May 26th at 630pm, The public hearing regarding Morriss Rd project. This is our opportunity to hopefully hear some new data from the town staff and then have an chance to ask direct questions of the commission and town staff and they can comment back directly to you. Please take this time to formulate your specific questions for this part of the presentation. We ask that you type your questions so you can present a copy to the town secretary so it can be entered directly into the public record. After the question and answer session, there will a a segment for you to express your comments as far as your approval or disapproval of the project. During this portion we also ask you to have your comments type written. If you want to read what you typed, that is fine or you can make a comment and submit a written statement for the public record. If you cannot attend the public hearing, you voice can still be heard. We will publish the procedure for you to follow and how to submit by email your comments.
Either way, we want to have a huge showing, so please make it a point to come out to town hall for this extremely important forum.
We would like to thank the town for holding this public hearing and hope it is the first of many such public forums. If you do not have a specific question, we will have a list of questions that you can get up and ask, so come on out and see one of us for the list.
Thanks again for all the support and know that we are making a huge difference and they are listening to what we have to say. We will also have voters registration forms available for anyone needing to be ready for the next election.
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There are a few things I would like more clarification about regarding this issue:
ReplyDelete1.) The "Master Plan". Town officials are using this as the main argument for the expansion of Morriss Rd. However, the primary reason for the expansion of Morriss is to compensate for the Riverwalk and Parker Square, which are NOT included in the master plan. So, in reality, the master plan is not being followed and cannot be used to justify the expansion of Morriss Rd. Also, why were developers allowed to build residentially so close to Morriss Road with little to no buffer in between 3040 and 1171?
2.) Riverwalk. Looking at the design for the Riverwalk, the main entrance/exit will be on 2499. So how much extra traffic will there really be from the Riverwalk onto Morriss? Maybe from the 3 story apartments that back up to Morriss they want to put in? That's not the type of traffic I want.
3.) The Current Town Council. First off, let me say I respect our town officials. However, I am still curious and skeptical as to why they are so against keeping Morriss a 4 lane road. First and foremost they should be listening to the citizens of the town they represent and doing what's best. What I have seen so far is a "do as we please" attitude with double standards as the standard. The town of Flower Mound will NOT cease to grow or expand if Morriss stays a 4 lane road. That is how this town grew to the size it is now, by having a town feel, not a 6 lane road at every north-south, east-west road. Like it or not Morriss has 1 high school, 1 junior high and multiple parks and day care centers directly off the road. Safety should definitely outweigh transportation in this case.
4.) Stop Morriss 6. The group to me seems to be labeled as a "liberal" or "mob" group. This again is a does not make sense to me. Liberals are generally for change, not against it. Also it feels to me that town officials think the group is asking for something that is completely absurd. I for one would be completely for a widening or upgrade to a road if it was needed. I drive Morriss Road every day to and from work and believe me if I thought it needed to be expanded, I would be all for it.
All in all, Morriss as a 4 lane road with adequate turning lanes is good enough to compensate for traffic now and in the foreseeable future.
Good coments Matt. Like you, I am curious to understand why everyone is on a "six-lane-bandwagon". Why the one-size-fits-all approach? Why are we building a huge pipeline of cars to slam into FM 407 (which is 4 lanes by the way).
ReplyDeleteConsensus on both sides is that the intersections at 2499, 3040, and 1171 can use improvement (and 407, but can anything be done there?). To a lesser degree, Forest Vista Dr and College Pkwy also. FM 1171 and 2499 are the big ones... what can we do?
For some reason, no one is telling us what is or is not possible. Even if all of the options are bad, at least explain it to us... engineers speak English like the rest of us, we can keep up!
Matt - excellent comments! It appears that the Town Council (except Mr.Hayen) are all for this and not willing to make any concessions with regards to this expansion. No real data has been gathered. Why can't they wait until all other major road projects are completed - 2499, 1171, Garden Ridge, DFW Fly Over, Dixon, etc. They appear to be in such a rush and don't seem to truly care about how this expansion will really affect the residents who live off of Morriss Road. If they cared so much, why weren't any of us notified of the expansion. They could have gone above and beyond the call of duty to get the word out. They chose not to. What does that tell the citizens of this Town??? They seem more concerned about our neighboring towns being able to get in and out of Flower Mound quickly with no regards to the residents of this raod. Again, what does this say about our elected officials? There will be more traffic, noise and pollution on this road, beautiful trees will be cut down, a road with runners, bike riders, families walking their dogs will cease to exist & a death trap for our children who walk to and from school. Marcus students tend to jay-walk across Morriss Road to get home. How they going to ensure that a child won't be killed or seriously injured on this road? How are they going to patrol this road so that people are not speeding or drag racing as they do now?
ReplyDeleteMatt,
ReplyDeleteThey can call us whatever they want. it only means they're scared. Mob? Liberal? How about concerned citizens who are tired of our Town Council doing as THEY please and not what the people want. Let's start there with the name calling.
Perhaps the town council has studied this issue and has more knowledge of all the research and future planning to make an educated decision in this matter. I don't think it has anything to do with a vendetta against this group or just wanting to build for building's sake. They just know more about past, present and future plans and have decided that making Morriss a 6 lane road will serve those plans best. I think to act like there is some conspiracy is just ridiculous. Just like Obama now says he is privy to more info and isn't changing some of the things he bashed Bush for. Contrary to popular belief on this site, the men and women serving and working in our Town aren't out for blood- they are just making the tough decisions that need to be made, popular or not.
ReplyDeleteGreat, if that's true then lay it out on the table and let us see it. I'm pretty sure there won't be any national secrets involved, so if they know so much about our past, present and future then there shouldn't be any reason not to give us all of the information. I promise you, Mr./Mrs. Anonymous, if they have real facts and figures that they can back up showing that the road should be widened, we will all agree to it.
ReplyDeleteFor right now, all they have is if’s and when’s and that doesn’t cut it. Give us truthful facts and we will go away, if not, be prepared to listen to us ad nauseum.
I don't think it matters what the Town says, you are never going to that widening the road makes sense. They could show you study after study and report after report and you will always say the studies and reports are wrong. 64,500 people won't say a word because as history shows us, when people are happy they are quiet. The fact that only a very small minority of people are voicing an opinion shows Town Council a lot.
ReplyDelete62,000 of the people in Flower Mound do not vote. Of the 3,000 that do, over half of them live within the Morriss/Gerault area. I think it is fair to say that nearly all of the 1048 persons who casted votes for Bob Butler were very clear about his position on Morriss Rd. How about the 1487 people who voted for Mr Lyda? Or the 1791 people who voted for Mr Hayden? So please do not spin the math to make it seem like only 0.7% of the Town is against this project. That is a gross misrepresentation of fact.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, the Town would have a hard time convincing many of us that it is a good idea to add 6 lanes from tip-to-tail and as fast as possible. But there is a large grey area in between. Perhaps "StopMorriss6" is a bad name... "RethinkMorriss6" might be more accurate, but not nearly as catchy.
Now that project funding is an approved reality, let's go back to the drawing board and re-think the scope, timing, and vision for Morriss Rd for the next 10 years. Let's come up with something that actually has a chance to garner public support AND meets the expected transportation needs of our Town.
Widening Morriss Road at the north tip that runs into 407 to 3 lanes would be beneficial. That way the left lane would goes west, middle lane straight, and right lane east. This should help thin out the traffic during rush hour without creating a bottleneck.
ReplyDeleteAlso lengthening the turn lanes on Morriss at the major intersections could help ease congestion during the morning and afternoon rush hour.
Creating an extra "drop off/pick up" lane at Forestwood Middle School would help that area during the school year.
Other than that, I think widening the entire road is overkill. Every road and town has at least some traffic. Expanding the roads is not the only solution. If that were the case then roads like Belt Line or Hwy 183 would be 10 lanes or more.
Common sense. Usually the best solution is also the easiest one.
In reality, common sense is all we want.
ReplyDeleteNo offense, but I live between 407 & 1171 & don't see the need for 6 lanes of traffic on this end. Remember the high school is in this section and the kids jaywalk all the time to from Marcus to the East side of Morriss Road. So we go from 6 lanes to 4 lanes - that makes no sense at all.
ReplyDeleteIf we are so concerned for the safety of our children, why isn't anyone showing up at the LISD board meetings demanding that they not let their cross country runners and other athletes run down the medians and jaywalk to get to them? I have always been amazed that no one has called them on the carpet for that. Where is the outcry that a child will be killed if left to run down a 4-lane road unattended, with i-pods on drowning out the sounds of the road? A 6-lane road isn't going to be what kills a child-it could happen anytime with the lax rules our coaches and trainers have for our kids who run down these streets every day.
ReplyDeleteI've sent emails to the LISD Board with ZERO response!
ReplyDeleteRegarding my previous post, I should probably clarify that I meant expanding the north tip of Morris by simply increasing the length of the left turn lane to compensate for the traffic during the afternoon rush hour. Also making the middle lane a "go straight or left" onto 407 would be beneficial in moving the traffic more efficiently.
ReplyDeleteI think in this situation simply extending the turn lanes on Morriss where needed and making the drop off/pick up lane for the Forestwood Middle School would be all that is needed to keep traffic flowing smoothly.
Again, the goal should NOT be no traffic at any time. That is an endless battle. The goal should be managing the traffic to an effective level. That can be done on Morriss without expanding to 6 lanes all the way through.
I just braved the pre holiday traffic coming out of DFW to get home this afternoon at 5pm. Bumper to bumper exiting the toll booths on the north end of DFW, bumper to bumper from the 114 merge all the way north on 121 to Grapevine Mills Parkway. Bumper to north on 2499 past Grapevine Mills all the way to the Gerault light. Right turn onto Gerault and it was me a 4 other cars all the way home. Whew, my quality of life was almost shattered.
ReplyDeleteEveryone needs to attend this meeting on Tuesday. The powers that be are counting on us to lose interest and stop showing up to meetings now that the election is over. Their game-plan is to keep dragging the meetings out until we quit showing up. What they don't count on, is us getting stronger with more time. We will be canvassing more and more neighborhoods as times goes on and building up our support base. Today alone we put out over 500 fliers informing the citizens that there will be a public hearing on Tuesday and the response was awesome. The residents up and down Morriss Rd. are mad, and the more we inform them, the madder they get.
ReplyDeleteLook at the election results and all of the new voters, not to mention the increased turnout from the Morriss Rd. corridor. That happened after only three months of action by the StopMorriss6 group. Just wait until next May after we have had a chance to talk to all 10,000 neighbors we have. There are still residents off of Morriss Rd. that don’t know what is happening, but rest assured, they will all know very soon.
Our group is getting bigger and bigger every day, and we won’t be denied our ultimate goal. If the Mayor and current Town Council think they are going to jam this down our throats, then they have another thing coming. We will vote them out over the next two years and get a Mayor and Council that will actually listen to us instead of the developers and special interest groups.
We are sending out a call to action for Tuesday night. Bring your friends and neighbors and some snacks, it’s going to be a long night with all of us there speaking. If enough of us show up and ask questions and give our public comments, they will have no choice but to listen to us. If they don’t listen to us, they will be out of power starting next May. We have only a voice now, but we will have the majority vote in time for the next election.
God bless America and God bless Texas. We have the best system in the world and we intend to use it!!!!
See you all on Tuesday night at 6:30!!!!
I had to head out of town this week. What transpired last night?
ReplyDelete..by the way, read the latest drivel on Round the Mound..the Plant wild flower guy is at it again..
And what do you have against wildflower? Not a nature lover?
ReplyDeleteThat's not the it at all. Where I take exception is where this clown on the Round the Mound site purporting to provide "facts" about the Morris pave-over that are nothing more than his own biased opinions. He basically spews the same garbage that has been shoveled by the town all along.
ReplyDeleteThis is after he suggests that we, Stop Morriss 6, stay together after the paving is done and plant wildflowers in the medians.