ST9904-CS040729CoPPELL
VIA E-MAlL
MEMORANDUM
DATE:
TO:
FRO M:
SUBJECT:
July 29, 2004
Mayor and Council
Jim Witt, City Manager
Meeting in Lewisville regarding 121 Toll Road
Michael Moms of COG described the benefits of thc 121 toll road, mid what particular prqiects could be
funded if the toll road came to fruition. Those benefits included the expmlsion of I35E with managed lanes
from the George Bush tollway north; Farm Road 423 in Denton and Collin Counties; Farm Road 720 in
Denton County; and a local partnership program that would include font projccts in proximity of major
arterials that would benefit Lewisville, Coppell, Carrollton, and Thc Colony. Thc project for Coppell was
the construction of Freeport Parkway/State Road. Seven Million Dollars has been tentatively set asidc for
that project if State Highway 121 is built with toll money.
Thc other option reviewed ``vas non-toll funding of the 121 project. If that occurred, no improvements
would be made to Interstate 35E, Farm Road 423 would just get sporadic intersection improvements, no
improvements on Farm Road 720, no local roads as previously mentioned would be constructcd, and the
SIB lo,ms would not be returned to the City.
There was prolonged discussion mnongst those in attendance. It is interesting It) note that thc objection to
the toil road option, which would fi~nd over $750 million worth ofprqiects in this gcncral area, was to thc
Dallas County projects, such as Freeport/State Road and a project on Belt kine Road, a total $17 million
out of that $750 million plus. Suffice to say Ken Griffin and I, along with Carrollton City Manager
Leonard Martin, expressed some concern regarding the shortsightedness ol~ one person in particular m
attendance who was appalled that $17 million ,,vas going to Dallas County. That individual £clt thcy could
not sell that to the voters in Denton County.
Slowly but surely cooler heads began to prevail. Michael Morris from COG was askcd to go back and
finalize numbers and tbe projects to be included it~ 121 was a toll road. Wc will probably have another
meeting next week to review this situation. If you have any other qnestions or comments, please do not
hesitate to contact mc.