Last night CBS channel 11 aired a segment on the news that discusses some of the controversy surrounding Glade Road, and featuring interviews by City Council Member Chris Putnam and Glade Road resident and former city council candidate Bobby Lindamood.
The City Council met for a work session last night at 6pm. You can watch the full length video at the end of the article. In this work session, the Council spoke about their current plans for Glade Road redevelopment, their timeline, and proposed budget for the construction.
Councilman Putnam, who has been an outspoken opponent of the Glade Road redevelopment reinforced the idea that the original justification for the Glade Road project was “to solve the Bluebonnet congestion problem and has since then grown into a major road reconstruction project,” going on to say that “if [city council] is really interested in solving a traffic problem, then lets do it the least intrusive and costly way” to the residents that will be affected by the construction.
Glade Road: The Timeline.
Despite the controversy surrounding eminent domain on Glade Road, and the failed prop 1 to limit the city’s ability to redevelop the road, one thing that both sides agree on is the for Glade Road to be redeveloped it will take sacrifice on the part of residents that not only live on Glade Road but also travel Glade daily. Construction is set to begin around the 3rd quarter of 2016 for Phase 1, and Phase 4 will be completed in 2023. Mind you, there will be a two-and-a-half year break between phase 3 and 4 due to expected income that will be available through the TIF.
Former City council candidate Bobby Lindamood spoke, giving his recommendations on the Glade Road construction process, breaking phase 1 into pieces to give access through Riverwalk to ease the additional traffic flow issues that the construction will cause. Because Glade is a residential, 2 lane road there are many issues that don’t occur on more major thoroughfares that offer opportunities to keep 2 lanes of traffic open at all times.
The Cost
Cost of the Glade Road project is currently projected at around $21 million, depending on what the final design ends up looking like.
The costs breakdown is as follows:
Councilman Putman released a statement on his Facebook page, saying
“Reasonable people can disagree on the options for redeveloping Glade Road, and I was happy to hear some flexibility from my colleagues on the sidewalk and trail impacts at our Glade workshop last night.
However, it is more than clear at this point that the campaign promises to re-develop Glade within the existing right of way are already ignored or forgotten. I have explained since the beginning that any plans being considered would absolutely require significant right-of-way acquisition and the use of eminent domain in some cases – not for road and lane expansion – but added “amenities”. Opposition social media pages, three mailers a week, establishment candidates and their surrogates told voters incessantly that no additional right of way would be required for the project. It wasn’t the case then, and it is not now.
We will find a solution for Glade, but the harder question that our community must deal with now and in the future is if it is acceptable to lie to our neighbors, and slander political opponents just to win elections. This is Colleyville – not Washington D.C. – and we are better than this.”
You can find the complete pdf of the Glade Road Project here
Or watch the entire video of the Work Session below.
