Some in Garland protest routes planned for turnpike extension
Residents say possible extension route through Rockwall ignored

More than 130 Garland residents and homeowners filled the City Council chambers last week to protest planned routes for the extension of State Highway 190, President George Bush Turnpike. The plans were not on the council agenda, but four speakers from the group - most of them from the Zion Road and Windsurf Bay Park areas - took the floor to make public comments.

The North Texas Tollway Authority announced two possible routes this month. Both run east from State Highway 78 through Sachse, south through Rowlett and across Lake Ray Hubbard to Interstate 30. A bridge across the lake would end in Garland, either at Zion Road or near Forest Creek Drive. Bill Swisher, who serves on the Garland Plan Commission, said tollway planners were ignoring better, more economical routes, including one through Rockwall. Other speakers at Tuesday's council meeting said the tollway authority failed to take a regional approach to the extension by refusing to expand the plans beyond the Dallas County line. They said Rowlett would reap the benefits of turnpike frontage for economic development and traffic flow while Garland would sacrifice frontage on Interstate 30 to accommodate the interchange. Garland also would lose upscale homes and suffer from a decrease in the value of surrounding property, hurting the city's tax base, they said.

"As far as Rowlett benefiting, that may be true," said John Godwin, Rowlett interim city manager. "But Garland has already benefited from having Highway 190." Mr. Godwin said that he hadn't heard any discussion of a Highway 190 route through Rockwall in years. His initial reaction, he said, was that it would be longer and more expensive than the routes the tollway authority has proposed. Mayor Jim Spence told the group that the council would do what is best for Garland. On Friday, Mr. Spence said he had written to ask the tollway authority to evaluate the additional routes described by Mr. Swisher and others. If those routes are found not to be feasible, Mr. Spence said he wants to see what data were used to reach that decision.

Several local officials say a route through Rockwall is not an option because Rockwall County commissioners approved a resolution against such a route in the mid-1990s. Rockwall County officials on Friday were unable to find records of such a resolution. They did find one from Oct 9, 1989, that commends Dallas County, Garland, Rowlett and Mesquite for financing a route study and that supports three potential routes in Dallas County. That resolution also urges a fourth route through Rockwall to be considered if the other routes "are determined not to be feasible or not to be acceptable to the other cities involved." Rockwall County Commissioner Jerry Wimpee said Friday that he worked on the Rockwall County thoroughfare plan that was approved last year and addressed transportation needs for the next 20 years. He said the Highway 190 extension was not part of those plans.