QUEEN CITY, Texas-Between 150 to 200 residents gathered at Queen City's Morris Upchurch Middle School on Tuesday to see where four proposed routes for the future Interstate 369 may swing.
These homeowners, along with some business owners, came from a 25-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 59 between Queen City and Liberty-Eylau to see the options the Texas Department of Transportation is proposing regarding the future U.S. 59 upgrade to I-369.
During this two-hour open-house meeting, the visitors studied large table maps focusing on a six-mile stretch of this future roadway that will be most affected by these four route possibilities. Of these options, one proposes a westward arching veer from where the highway currently runs and another proposes an eastward veer. The third proposes leaving the U.S. 59 footprint exactly where it is on the ground level, and the fourth would do the same but with the highway elevated.
All four proposals would also allow the highway to keep its current four lanes-except that the lanes would be upgraded to accommodate interstate freeway traffic.
Besides the maps, information boards displayed both benefits and drawbacks associated with all four options-including residential and commercial building displacement, said Marcus Sandefur of the TxDot Atlanta District Office.
"These proposed routes will include making this area of upgraded highway more of a controlled-access roadway with frontage roads serving both local residential property owners and commercial business owners," he added.
If upgraded, this portion of U.S. 59 will serve as part of an overall spur connecting the future Interstate 69 with Interstate 30.
Along with maps and information boards, Susan Howard, a public involvement specialist for TxDOT, offered visitors the chance to take an online survey to post their concerns about all four plans. Once the surveys are submitted, the results would be combined with written comments submitted before the meeting ended, Howard said.
"We plan to study both the comments and surveys to find out where we need to go with these four proposed routes," she said.
TxDOT's second and final meeting will be from 5 to 7 p.m., Thursday at Liberty-Eylau High School, 2905 Leopard Drive.
For more information, call 903-799-1306.