Controversial U.S. 380 bypass nears decision, surveyors start work

David Thompson looked out over his front pasture at the end of July and saw two young men placing stakes in the path where he was planning to bale hay later that day.

“What are y’all doing?” he asked

The surveyors were marking the proposed right-of-way — which allows individuals to travel along a specific route on property belonging to another person — for the coming U.S. 380 bypass.

This was a surprise to David, who knew the final decision for the bypass alignment had not been announced by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), and he hadn’t given the surveyors — who work for a surveying and mapping company contracted by TxDOT to perform the right-of-way survey — permission to come onto his property following a letter sent to his home in March. David told them they could come back to place the stakes once he was done baling hay.

The proposed bypass would take the freeway from Coit Road and existing U.S. 380 around the northern portion of McKinney, connecting back to existing U.S. 380 near FM 1827, east of McKinney, displacing 22 residents, 35 businesses and impacting many more, including David and his wife Karen Thompson’s farm, which is one in a string of farms along FM 2933.

“It causes a lot of stress,” Karen said. “You think you have your retirement home all set. You’ve worked hard on your property for over a decade and then boom, it’s like your world is being pulled out from underneath you.”

The surveyors’ presence has left property owners along the stretch of FM 2933 feeling defeated and “disillusioned.” While TxDOT has identified a preferred alignment for the bypass, the final alignment will not be announced until later this fall when the department obtains its record of decision (ROD). However, the surveyors are already starting their preliminary work: gathering more information on the existing and proposed right-of-way, which will allow them to have the information they need to have conversations with property owners and make offers after the ROD is announced.

“It’s not an act of good faith to send surveyors out before final decisions have been revealed,” said Amber Block, who has lived on her ranch off FM 2933, with her husband, Dan Block, for 10 years.

Even so, TxDOT is moving forward with the preferred alignment and making refinements before the record of decision, said Madison Schein, spokesperson for TxDOT.

“It’s going to happen, and there’s nothing that’s going to stop it,” Karen said.

‘We feel betrayed’

The Thompsons spent 14 years turning their 46-acre ranch into the place it is today. Pastures hold shorthorn cattle and horses, while hay fields sprawl to the pecan grove that lines the edge of the property. David refers to the farm as the “croaking place.” It’s where they had planned to grow old. But segment C of TxDOT’s preferred alignment for the bypass would come within 200 feet of the side of their newly built two-bedroom, two-bathroom home, Karen said.

They’d lose pecan trees, their hay production pasture and at least half of a grazing area used for cattle, forcing them to cut the size of their herd. Their dreams of a “peaceful retirement” are gone, as the couple cannot afford to move to another farm anywhere near the area.

“The property will be condemned through eminent domain, and it will be taken,” David said. “The process has already started, whether they acknowledge it or not, and we won’t be able to stop them… these public entities, they’ve got all the power, they do what they want to do. We feel betrayed.”

This isn’t the first time residents have been left feeling forlorn by the proposed bypass, which is meant to manage congestion and improve east-west mobility and safety — based on today’s traffic numbers and the projected traffic numbers, which show 70,600 in average daily traffic by 2030 and 109,000 by 2050, according to TxDOT.

Earlier this year, McKinney residents found out that TxDOT recommended a new route for the proposed U.S. 380 bypass after it initially recommended the Purple Alternative Plan, composed of segments A, E and D; that was January 2020, following the conclusion of a three-year feasibility study. Residents said taking the highway through segment D was a good idea because it would go through a floodplain, affecting fewer residents and business owners.

The Thompsons had waited until last year to start building their dream home on the land, following the announcement of the Purple Alternative Plan as the recommended alignment for the bypass. Segment D would not have impacted their property.

But, on Jan. 13, residents found out about the new recommendation after TxDOT announced the final draft environmental impact study. The Blue Alternative Plan proposed the highway go through segment C instead of segment D. Residents said they were shocked, blindsided and outraged.

“It’s hard as a landowner to feel helpless and, like, you have no say in what is going to happen to your property,” said Block, who raises honeybees, owns horses and has a sand riding arena on her property. “It’s these things that are going to be demolished. It’s our homes, it’s our livelihoods and our social network that’s going to be destroyed. The whole atmosphere of the ranch will change.”

Following the announcement of the new recommendation, TxDOT conducted a public hearing period for residents to give feedback. The period closed on April 20, 2023, after two extensions.

But Block, among other residents, said they don’t feel like their voices have been or will be heard.

“We sent emotional letters, scientific letters, analysis letters, desperate pleas and nothing changed. Nothing was listened to,” Block said. “People all over have tried, but the whole process has really felt disingenuous. Why are you going to ask someone’s opinion if you’re not going to take their opinion into account?”

Moving quickly, on purpose

In Collin County, the population has increased by about 8.6% from April 2020 to July 2022. Schein said because Collin County is growing at a fast rate, the value of the land and the number of properties that will be impacted has likely changed since TxDOT initially assessed the area.

Throughout the feasibility study that began in 2017 and the subsequent environmental study, TxDOT has reviewed and updated the potential property impacts along the corridor, Schein said. All cost estimates were most recently updated in the publication of the final draft environmental impact study in early 2023.

Surveyors are assessing what properties would be impacted and how much the land is going to be worth, while taking into account the growth of Collin County, Schein said. If land owners do not agree to surveyors going on their property to assess the right-of-way, TxDOT gathers the information they need from public right-of-way and public records.

“Because it’s growing so quickly, we don’t want it to be a situation where all these people move in and we’re still trying to buy the property to build a highway, so we’re trying to make this go efficiently and quickly so there’s less impact in the future,” Schein said. “There’s a lot of elements they still have to get done before you see them building a highway, so this is us trying to move quickly and block off that space that’s needed.”

Schein said nothing besides ROW and utility can be done until the project is fully funded, so the construction timeline could be put on hold depending on when funding comes through.

“It’s not looking like within the next year or two we’ll be seeing full impacts,” she said.

For the Thompsons, this means maybe a few more springs of looking out over their front pasture to see new calves being born and numbered nights left for stargazing. With surveyors already on their land, the couple braces for the eight-lane freeway to take over their quiet, peaceful farm.