Blacklands Corridor

Opponents of a proposed toll road between Greenville and far northeastern Dallas County plan to present their objections to elected officials throughout the area on Tuesday.

The activist group Texans United for Reform and Freedom (TURF) plans to hold a press conference at 9:30 a.m. on Tue. Oct. 14 in front of the Hunt County Auxiliary Courtroom at 2700 Johnson St. in Greenville. TURF also plans to make its case during the Hunt County Commissioners Court meeting scheduled for 10 a.m. at that same location.

For about a year and a half, Dallas-area media didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the North Central Texas Council of Governments transportation study of the "Blacklands Corridor" between Greenville and northeastern Dallas County. There was a bit of a rumble in early 2013 when it seemed developers might try to put in a toll road along the old Blacklands Railroad right-of-way, but when the Council of Governments shot down that plan, the whole story went onto the back burner for a while.

After a meeting was shut down earlier this month due to overcrowding, state transportation officials are going to try again Monday to present information regarding a possible toll road through the region between Greenville and Garland, as well as other issues.

The North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) has scheduled the public meeting at the Rockwall High School Performing Arts Center at The Utley Middle School campus. Doors will open at 5 p.m. Monday, with the public meeting starting at 6:30 p.m.

Who would have guessed that a North Central Texas Council of Governments public meeting about a proposed toll road would provide more drama than the Texas A&M University-Commerce football season opener?

Before the Lions romped past an overmatched East Texas Baptist team at Memorial Stadium, the Council of Governments public forum in Lavon had disbanded early.

The local fire marshal shut the meeting down about 45 minutes into the evening’s proceedings. The crowd of over 300 packed into the NeSmith Elementary School lunchroom constituted a violation of fire code.

A public meeting Lavon to present plans for a proposed toll road linking Greenville with the President George Bush Turnpike in Dallas County ended early last night. About 45 minutes into the meeting, local fire officials shut down the event at NeSmith Elementary School in Lavon, according to a report by the Greenville Herald-Banner.

The North Central Texas Council of Governments Transportation Division is hosting another public forum on theongoing Blacklands Corridor study next Thursday.

The public meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Sept. 4 at NeSmith Elementary School, 801 Presidents Blvd. in Lavon.

The Blacklands Corridor Feasibility Study is an ongoing assessment of transportation needs in a wide area from Greenville to Garland. The study area stretches from U.S. Hwy. 380 in the north to Interstate 30 in the south and includes portions of Collin, Dallas, Hunt and Rockwall counties.

If - and everything about the Blacklands Corridor has an "if" in front of it - there is a new road between Greenville and Garland, there are quite a few places where it could go.

The North Central Texas Council of Government's Blacklands Corridor Feasibility Study is on schedule. By the end of this calendar year, the agency expects to have recommendations for the future of transportation infrastructure in the region between Greenville and the President George Bush Tollway in Garland. The study area includes parts of Collin, Dallas, Hunt and Rockwall Counties.

A big crowd filled the Fletcher Warren Civic Center in Greenville Thursday night, for the latest public meeting concerning plans to address future transportation issues along the Blacklands Corridor between Greenville and the Dallas area.

UPDATE, 3:45 p.m.: As of around 3 p.m. this afternoon, the HCPC Facebook page had vanished. The North Central Texas Council of Governments Transportation Department confirmed that the page and the post were unrelated to any NCTCOG activity. And so the mystery remains, perhaps to be cleared up at the upcoming public meeting on the Blacklands Corridor in Greenville. That meeting will be March 20 at the Fletcher Warren Civic Center, located at 5501 S. Business Hwy. 69, beginning with an open house at 5:30 p.m.