ST9904-CS021126Panel offers '
$4M extra for
SH 121 land
Deal would avoid
bottleneck on highway
through The Colony
By PAUL MEYER
Staff writer
A $4 million proposal intended to revive
expansion plans along State Highway 121
could avoid creating a bottleneck that would
affect future transportation plans•;through ,.
The Colony and southern Denton County.
The Regional Transportation Council
approved the funds on Thursday, add}ng to
the S10 million already offered by t1te state,
in hopes of resoh~ng a conflict with the
Maharishi Global Development Fund that
owns a 22-acre tract of land in the Colony.:;;;
State transportation officials need =the; ..
land to create a freeway from Plano ltd<,~~`
Coppell, but have been stalled by la1~d4 ' `
demands for just compensation. F ~ tp~az
already in place and construction `~
next year for the western sect}on'oF- thati'N
highwag including amain-lane bridge over
Interstate 35E and a direct exit ramp from,; ..
northbound I-35E to SH 121.
John Johnson, chairman of the Texas
Transportation Commission, said Friday.:.
that work is already under way with the
attorney general's office to draft a setde-
meat agreement. and give the development
group a 10 day window to accept 111e state
must approve the new funds.
A $3.8 million judgment in favor of the
Maharishi fund settling legal fees from a
now-dropped condemnation proceeding also
may play a factor in the deal.
"I'm hopeful we could put this thing to
bed in about three weeks, but if they balk
then we wiU have to work withintheright-pf-
way we currently have," Johnson said: "It
has been a long drawn out process and 1
hope this brings closure to it"
The Maharishi Group had asked for $18
21-cn to BH 111, Pane 11A
.. ~ ~.
:.,
SH 121
From 1A
million for the property, and
plans to build a slimmer highway
.are already in place if the group
rejects the $14 million offer. The
plan would shrink the frontage
roads from three lanes in each
direction to one or two lanes and
restrict access onto Spring
Creek Parkway.
That, Denton County
.Commissioner Sandy Jacobs
said recently, would bring future
;planning for the corridor to a
screeching halt
:': "T'his inconsistency in access
:would hinder all future mass
transportation between
McKinney and the DFW Airport
forever," said Jacobs, who has
agent most of two decades trying
to get the SH 121 highway built
She added the elimination of all
high-occupancy vef}icle and
mass transit lanes has been dis-
cussed.
Piano officials also don't want
'the bottleneck.
~ "Basically, Collin County rep
resentatives and cities there
were rejecting building it that
way, so if this deal is rejected
vte'll go back and negotiate
~mething else," Plano Mayor
Aat Evans, a member of the RTC,
b'i<tid Friday. Evans also brought
.~ the transportation issue for a
•corridor in which a projected 1
i#illion people will Gve by 2030.
•~ "'The other thing that every-
body recognized is that there
needs to be a median because
future plans include light rail
Sown the median," she said.
"I7~e alternate way they were
planning to build it would fore-
close on the future possibility of
mass transportation along that
corridor."
Plano Traffic Engineer Lloyd
Neal says the city has continuing
concerns about the level of con-
gestion and :potential for aca-
dents around the intersection of
Spring Creek Parkway' and
Highway 121.
Highway 121 serves as a pri-
mary connector between Dallas'
northern suburbs and Dallas-
Fort Worth International
Airport The state has more than
$350 million worth of projects
from McKinney to Coppell
scheduled, including the portion
through The Colony.
Complicating transportation
planning is the pending develop•
ment of the Frisco sports com
plex at Highway 121 and Legacy
Drive.
"Even with improvements,
Legacy and 121 will be at a failure
level, so I've already been talking
with the mayor of Frisco on i
doing something cooperatively to
help the situation," Evans said.
Jacobs feels that something
must be done soon about the
current deadlock between the
Global Development Fund and
the state, or otherwise construe-
tion may be halted for months or
years.
"It's extremely important that
TxDOT initiates or at least
responds to what's .going on,'
Jacobs said. "If the state, espe
dally TxDOT, does not agree t~
some contract with the landowr
er, I'm afraid we71 be sitting her
for years for the project to prr
ceed. Right now, there's no rig}
of way that has been bough
they can't built the road witho~
the right of way, and there's r
legal proceeding that you ner
to have to go forward. They
have to start all over."
~.1