COLLIN COUNTY, Texas — On Thursday, TxDOT held a second series of public input meetings on the U.S. 380 Bypass. In January, the state released the preferred alternative route for the bypass.
The proposed route -- also called the "blue alternative" -- spans 16 miles and would start at Coit Road and F.M. 1827 along U.S. 380.
Paul Borchard, whose family moved to the area in 1996, has property that will impacted by the proposed bypass. He told WFAA that his family found the north Collin County property for a reason.
"You're away from the hustle and bustle," he said. "You're away from the noise. It's just a place that slows down."
The bypass route that is "preferred" to TxDOT contains segments A, E, and C. And it cuts right through Borchard's property.
The O'Neals, who have lived along County Road 338 for five generations, are in the same boat, and they said they feel "betrayed" by the proposal and the eminent domain that would put their home at risk for the installation of a new highway.
"We're both retired teachers," said Gordon O'Neal of himself and his partner. "We were hoping to spend the rest of our lives here as long as we could."
U.S. Highway 380 is congested with traffic these days, and TxDOT predicts it will take two hours to drive eight miles along it by 2050 if nothing is done.
But their proposed bypass comes at the potential cost of 35 business and 22 homes.
"Something needs to be done to meet today's traffic demands and the future's traffic demands," said Madison Schein of TxDOT. "We took what [residents] said, we looked it over, we studied it to see how we can improve, and this is what we came up with."
There's concern from residents over the effects of years-long construction to build this bypass, too.
The families who live along the proposed route told WFAA they have not yet received any official correspondence about the state procuring their properties, but they expect that to happen sometime in June or July.
Already, the O'Neals have hired attorneys in anticipation of that notice. They're thinking through the next steps.
"They've looked at this on a map," O'Neal said. "[But] they haven't been out here. They haven't seen these beaver dams, these beaver ponds. They haven't seen the deer."
A second series of public input meetings are set for this week and next week.
TxDOT says that, while nothing is official, major changes to the preferred route are unlikely.
The first in-person meeting is set for Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Collin County Courthouse Central Jury Room, located at 2100 Bloomdale Road, McKinney. That meeting, which is also being hosted online, will remain available through the comment period deadline of March 21, 2023.
A second public input meeting is scheduled for February 21.