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Gridlock a problem for Barrett Station
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| Standstill morning and afternoon traffic along a five-mile stretch of Crosby Lynchburg has frustrated area residents looking to get in and out of their neighborhoods. Many are asking the county to either widen the road or provide more access to surrounding major freeways to alleviate the backup. |
By JOSH HARDWICK
Having lived in Barrett Station for the better part of 61 years, Raymond Chenevert has watched this community grow considerably in the past several decades. But now he and many other residents have to deal with some frustrating problems due to this growth in the form of traffic – lots of it.
Chenevert’s home along Barrett Road is one of dozens of properties whose only egress is Crosby-Lynchburg Road, the county-owned continuation of FM 2100 which incorporates Barrett Station, Highlands and the Lynchburg area.
With Highway 90 to the north and Interstate 10 to the south, Crosby-Lynchburg is surrounded by busy freeways that empty their traffic onto its streets twice daily as residents travel to and from work.
Much to the dismay of locals, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) announced earlier this year that construction on I-10 near Crosby Lynchburg would result in more traffic near the freeway.
But lately the daily backups have been unlike anything residents ever expected.
“From about 3:30 until 7 p.m. we’re shut out,” said Chenevert, who is among those asking for a better solution to the traffic problem.
During afternoon rush hour a bumper-to-bumper line of vehicles can stretch five-mile length of Crosby Lynchburg from Highway 90 all the way to I-10, leaving neighborhoods and businesses in Barrett with nowhere to go until the traffic clears.
“If it weren’t for a few courteous drivers, we would never get onto the street,” Chenevert added.
Inconveniences aside, the longtime Barrett resident fears that the congestion may soon become a matter of life and death should ambulances or fire trucks need to enter the neighborhood at times of peak traffic.
Chenevert also dreads another hurricane evacuation. Though no mandatory evacuations were ordered in Harris County for Hurricane Ike, residents evacuating from coastal counties flooded onto I-10 and Crosby Lynchburg as they travelled north.
“One day something like that is going to happen again and not everyone will be able to get out with just one egress,” he said.
The traffic situation has caused all sorts of problems for Wilbert Eagleton’s convenience store near the intersection of Crosby Lynchburg and Cypress. Not only does the twice-daily traffic often block access to his business’s parking lot but he has watched and heard fire trucks and ambulances as they respond to a nearby wreck almost every day.
Eagleton said some of these accidents were caused by vehicles attempting to use his small driveway to get around the gridlock. He and other Barrett residents have been granted a temporary reprieve from such scenes with school districts out for the holidays, but soon classes will resume and, with them, the traffic.
“Sometimes I will just pull my car into a parking lot so buses can get by,” he said.
Ideally Eagleton said he would like to see Crosby Lynchburg widened or at least repaved with a turning lane to allow easier access to neighborhood streets and businesses during peak traffic hours.
Both options are a possibility, said Harris County Precinct 2 spokesman John Saavedra, though any long-term solutions to the traffic problem will not be easy – or cheap.
Saavedra, who heads up road and bridge maintenance for Precinct 2, said that Crosby Lynchburg is on a list of priority sites in the precinct being considered for expansion.
However, at $10 million per mile the cost to transform the two-lane stretch of road from Wallisville to FM 1942 into five lanes would cost about $50 million, Saavedra estimated. The cost to the county could be reduced, however, should Crosby Lynchburg be annexed by the state as an addition to FM 2100.
“It would be possible to make a request through the state to make Crosby Lynchburg a state road, which would qualify it for state and federal funds to expedite the process,” he said.
The county would also have to negotiate with property owners along Crosby Lynchburg to obtain the necessary land to expand the road.
“Right now we have limited right-of-way to work with, so to improve that area we would need to get additional clearance to widen the roads,” he said.
Saavedra said that five-lane expansion projects have already been approved for portions of nearby John Martin Road and Garth Road, both of which run parallel to Crosby Lynchburg and both of which intersect 1-10 and FM 1942.
Those projects are expected to begin early next year, after which Saavedra said attentions will turn to Crosby Lynchburg. In the meantime, he said that the county would be willing to pursue short-term solutions to alleviate problem spots near businesses and intersections.
“If there is something we can do right now we would be happy to do it, but we need to know specific locations,” he said.
Wilbert’s son, Peter Eagleton is holding out for a more permanent solution. Ever since the traffic along Crosby Lynchburg first began to stall Eagleton said it takes him about 45 minutes to travel from the Lynchburg Ferry’s north landing to his house in Barrett.
From Main Street (aka Crosby Lynchburg) in Highlands, Eagleton takes Barber’s Hill Road to Sralla and FM 1942 to get home – a route actually gets him there faster than staying on Crosby Lynchburg.
“It definitely needs to be a wider road,” he said. “Lots of people use it to get out of the neighborhood and it becomes impossible.”
Chenevert’s home along Barrett Road is one of dozens of properties whose only egress is Crosby-Lynchburg Road, the county-owned continuation of FM 2100 which incorporates Barrett Station, Highlands and the Lynchburg area.
With Highway 90 to the north and Interstate 10 to the south, Crosby-Lynchburg is surrounded by busy freeways that empty their traffic onto its streets twice daily as residents travel to and from work.
Much to the dismay of locals, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) announced earlier this year that construction on I-10 near Crosby Lynchburg would result in more traffic near the freeway.
But lately the daily backups have been unlike anything residents ever expected.
“From about 3:30 until 7 p.m. we’re shut out,” said Chenevert, who is among those asking for a better solution to the traffic problem.
During afternoon rush hour a bumper-to-bumper line of vehicles can stretch five-mile length of Crosby Lynchburg from Highway 90 all the way to I-10, leaving neighborhoods and businesses in Barrett with nowhere to go until the traffic clears.
“If it weren’t for a few courteous drivers, we would never get onto the street,” Chenevert added.
Inconveniences aside, the longtime Barrett resident fears that the congestion may soon become a matter of life and death should ambulances or fire trucks need to enter the neighborhood at times of peak traffic.
Chenevert also dreads another hurricane evacuation. Though no mandatory evacuations were ordered in Harris County for Hurricane Ike, residents evacuating from coastal counties flooded onto I-10 and Crosby Lynchburg as they travelled north.
“One day something like that is going to happen again and not everyone will be able to get out with just one egress,” he said.
The traffic situation has caused all sorts of problems for Wilbert Eagleton’s convenience store near the intersection of Crosby Lynchburg and Cypress. Not only does the twice-daily traffic often block access to his business’s parking lot but he has watched and heard fire trucks and ambulances as they respond to a nearby wreck almost every day.
Eagleton said some of these accidents were caused by vehicles attempting to use his small driveway to get around the gridlock. He and other Barrett residents have been granted a temporary reprieve from such scenes with school districts out for the holidays, but soon classes will resume and, with them, the traffic.
“Sometimes I will just pull my car into a parking lot so buses can get by,” he said.
Ideally Eagleton said he would like to see Crosby Lynchburg widened or at least repaved with a turning lane to allow easier access to neighborhood streets and businesses during peak traffic hours.
Both options are a possibility, said Harris County Precinct 2 spokesman John Saavedra, though any long-term solutions to the traffic problem will not be easy – or cheap.
Saavedra, who heads up road and bridge maintenance for Precinct 2, said that Crosby Lynchburg is on a list of priority sites in the precinct being considered for expansion.
However, at $10 million per mile the cost to transform the two-lane stretch of road from Wallisville to FM 1942 into five lanes would cost about $50 million, Saavedra estimated. The cost to the county could be reduced, however, should Crosby Lynchburg be annexed by the state as an addition to FM 2100.
“It would be possible to make a request through the state to make Crosby Lynchburg a state road, which would qualify it for state and federal funds to expedite the process,” he said.
The county would also have to negotiate with property owners along Crosby Lynchburg to obtain the necessary land to expand the road.
“Right now we have limited right-of-way to work with, so to improve that area we would need to get additional clearance to widen the roads,” he said.
Saavedra said that five-lane expansion projects have already been approved for portions of nearby John Martin Road and Garth Road, both of which run parallel to Crosby Lynchburg and both of which intersect 1-10 and FM 1942.
Those projects are expected to begin early next year, after which Saavedra said attentions will turn to Crosby Lynchburg. In the meantime, he said that the county would be willing to pursue short-term solutions to alleviate problem spots near businesses and intersections.
“If there is something we can do right now we would be happy to do it, but we need to know specific locations,” he said.
Wilbert’s son, Peter Eagleton is holding out for a more permanent solution. Ever since the traffic along Crosby Lynchburg first began to stall Eagleton said it takes him about 45 minutes to travel from the Lynchburg Ferry’s north landing to his house in Barrett.
From Main Street (aka Crosby Lynchburg) in Highlands, Eagleton takes Barber’s Hill Road to Sralla and FM 1942 to get home – a route actually gets him there faster than staying on Crosby Lynchburg.
“It definitely needs to be a wider road,” he said. “Lots of people use it to get out of the neighborhood and it becomes impossible.”
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sadahlrose wrote on Dec 30, 2008 10:19 AM: