County Commissioner Represents Kaufman County on Major Thoroughfares

Don Purdum
Post Editor

December 4, 2008

If you drive on Highway 80 or I-20 during rush hour, you realize that every year our roads are getting more and more congested in the western half of Kaufman County.

According to Kaufman County Commissioner Ray Clark, the county has never had a County Thoroughfare Plan, and that hurts both the county and the cities within it.

Clark is the Commissioner for Precinct 2, which includes Crandall, Forney, and points north to Rockwall County.

“We have been working on getting a thoroughfare plan for the last year,” said Clark.

The North Texas Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) recently started a conversation with Kaufman County about membership, and Clark has been appointed as the County’s contact to with NCTCOG to work on major transportation projects.

Clark said of the need for expanding current roads and adding new ones, “The population growth between now and 2030 is going to be enormous in Kaufman County. Forney’s residential growth, just in the city limits, is expected to be 450%. Terrell is not far behind at 332%, and the county is projected to grow at 245%.”

According to a report obtained from the NCTCOG, Kaufman County’s population in 2005 was 80,279 people. In 2030, it’s expected to grow to 277,745. Forney’s population is expected to be 43,825. That’s based on the current city limits, which excludes Windmill Farms, Travis Ranch, Heartland, and other developments north of the city limits.

“Here is why we need an official county thoroughfare; first, we don’t know where to build the roads to meet the needs if they can’t look at the growth patterns to determine if a current road needs more lanes, or new roads are needed. Second, we can’t get any federal money without the official county thoroughfare plan to help with the cost.”

Once the County Thoroughfare plan is completed, Clark said, “$12.5 million dollars will become available for what we call off-system projects for county and city roads. That money cannot be used for state roads.”

Over the next sixty days, Clark hopes to have finished discussions with each city in the county to help them build in their current and future plans into the county thoroughfare plan. That will help Forney as they work over the next several years to complete projects like the Loop announced at Tuesday nights council meeting that is in the new Comprehensive Plan (click here to read article).

Clark will be meeting with the Forney City Council at their meeting scheduled for December 16th.

Clark did briefly touch on the Outer Loop, which has been a sensitive subject for citizens who live along Helms Trail.

The Outer Loop is a six lane, 450’ wide tollway projected to come from the Loop 9 in Seagoville, come to the east of Forney, and connect into new roadwork in Rockwall County.

At one point last spring, NCTCOG was considering putting the highway through Helms Trail because it was the only thoroughfare and it made sense to them at the time, upsetting residents who felt that eminent domain might have been used on their property.

Clark also said, “this another reason why we need the County Thoroughfare Plan, if we had the plan in place, NCTCOG would have known by glancing at it that homes were along that property.”

“The Outer Loop will not affect Helms Trail. When they first started talking about it, they didn’t realize that $200,000 homes were located along the path. The plan is to connect the Outer Loop coming from the south with I-20, then turn north to the east of Forney along Brushy Creek, and north into Rockwall County.”

“A County Thoroughfare plan will prevent a situation like that from happening again. It prevents developers from putting in sub-divisions where the road is going to go.”

Minutes from a recent NCTCOG meeting confirm that an Outer Loop citizen advisory committee will be coordinated in January 2009. The purpose of the committee will be to allow direct communication and interaction with the general public.

The Outer Loop is currently undergoing an environmental study.