Bridge plan disrupts calm of Lavon Lake

Todd and Kay Nordby hope to build a retirement home on Lavon Lake and enjoy a serene view of the water.

[Drew]

This bridge will be awesome. I can get to work 20 minutes sooner. It will help the growth of Lavon.

[Kay]

Drew wrote:

This bridge will be awesome. I can get to work 20 minutes sooner. It will help the growth of Lavon.

The County has plans for extending Park Road from the west over to Spring Creek Parkway at the Hwy 78 Wylie WalMart. That will be even closer to Lavon. I think the county need to focus on Hwy 78 and the other needed road improvements. I fear the increase in traffic that the bridge will bring will undo any time gained, especially if the county does not complete the promised 4 and 6 lane improvements to the areas roads before any extra bridge traffic begins.

[Drew]

Kay wrote:

<quoted text>
The County has plans for extending Park Road from the west over to Spring Creek Parkway at the Hwy 78 Wylie WalMart. That will be even closer to Lavon. I think the county need to focus on Hwy 78 and the other needed road improvements. I fear the increase in traffic that the bridge will bring will undo any time gained, especially if the county does not complete the promised 4 and 6 lane improvements to the areas roads before any extra bridge traffic begins.

For me anything helps. I drive to Frisco for work and I hate paying to use the tollway. I am from CALI I'm not used to paying for the freeway. I'd rather pay for it through taxes. It would also be great if they added lanes to the the 78 from the George Bush to FM 6. It gets backed up in the mornings and evenings.

[lac]

Drew wrote:

I am from CALI I'm not used to paying for the freeway. I'd rather pay for it through taxes.

Haven't been home in awhile have you ? So cal and the bay area both have hundreds of miles of toll roads.

[Local Resident]

NO TOLL, NO OUTER LOOP.
I was born in Wylie, TX and have lived in Nevada all my life. I would love to have access to cross Lake Lavon.
Bridge vs White Rock Lake atmosphere? Give me a bridge.
We do not need 6 lanes, a simple 2 lane in either direction road would be nice, but Hwy 78 still has not been widened all the way to Farmersville yet, and this alone would help. I do not want a toll road or the Outer Loop though. Why can we not just widen the existing road across the Dam? We should be able to do this without taking any homes. As far as security goes, people fish down there every day anyway. So there is no protection currently, anyway.
We need an alternate route when there are wrecks on Hwy 78. In order to get from Wylie to Nevada alternate 78, one has to go to Princeton or Farmersville, and that is only if you know about the wreck in advance and have the option to avoid Hwy 78.
We have already paid our tax dollars, and first and foremost, before any bridges are started, we need all the wavy pavement and pot holes fixed in this County. If this project is going to happen, there should be no more houses built until this project is confirmed. Stop the development first, please do not destroy my friend's homes. I know people that have lived at their property since the age of 6, and they are now in their 50’s, some longer than that. There should be a way to do this with existing access. Why not come across Lavonia Park for example? There are very few houses that actually sit next to the road today.
As far as cutting the lake in half, as long as this could be done without destroying lives. Who /what will it affect? The boaters? How many of them live out here anyway? It may slow them down a little, which may not be a bad thing.
I agree to a bridge, as long as it is only a bridge, and not a leg of the outer loop which does indeed not help anyone that lives on or around Lake Lavon. I prefer no tolls; let’s not build a bridge a bridge on a credit card. I do not agree with taking property.
I have to drive around the Lake to commute to work, and there is no alternate route. In summary, I think to widen and use Lavonia Park as the access point would not be too bad. This is Collin County, not White Rock Lake in a swanky neighborhood, where the land owners frown at you if you look at the lake. This is the way I feel, and I LOVE Lake Lavon, always dearly, it is my home.
Nevada resident.

[Mays]

Local Resident wrote:

NO TOLL, NO OUTER LOOP.
I was born in Wylie, TX and have lived in Nevada all my life. I would love to have access to cross Lake Lavon.
Bridge vs White Rock Lake atmosphere? Give me a bridge.
We do not need 6 lanes, a simple 2 lane in either direction road would be nice, but Hwy 78 still has not been widened all the way to Farmersville yet, and this alone would help. I do not want a toll road or the Outer Loop though. Why can we not just widen the existing road across the Dam? We should be able to do this without taking any homes. As far as security goes, people fish down there every day anyway. So there is no protection currently, anyway.
We need an alternate route when there are wrecks on Hwy 78. In order to get from Wylie to Nevada alternate 78, one has to go to Princeton or Farmersville, and that is only if you know about the wreck in advance and have the option to avoid Hwy 78.
We have already paid our tax dollars, and first and foremost, before any bridges are started, we need all the wavy pavement and pot holes fixed in this County. If this project is going to happen, there should be no more houses built until this project is confirmed. Stop the development first, please do not destroy my friend's homes. I know people that have lived at their property since the age of 6, and they are now in their 50’s, some longer than that. There should be a way to do this with existing access. Why not come across Lavonia Park for example? There are very few houses that actually sit next to the road today.
As far as cutting the lake in half, as long as this could be done without destroying lives. Who /what will it affect? The boaters? How many of them live out here anyway? It may slow them down a little, which may not be a bad thing.
I agree to a bridge, as long as it is only a bridge, and not a leg of the outer loop which does indeed not help anyone that lives on or around Lake Lavon. I prefer no tolls; let’s not build a bridge a bridge on a credit card. I do not agree with taking property.
I have to drive around the Lake to commute to work, and there is no alternate route. In summary, I think to widen and use Lavonia Park as the access point would not be too bad. This is Collin County, not White Rock Lake in a swanky neighborhood, where the land owners frown at you if you look at the lake. This is the way I feel, and I LOVE Lake Lavon, always dearly, it is my home.
Nevada resident.

I think as Kay said "The County has plans for extending Park Road from the west over to Spring Creek Parkway at the Hwy 78 Wylie WalMart." that thhis is the best idea for our area. It will cost less and will solve a majority's problems. The County plans on making the Lake Lavon Bridge a "Toll" bridge. I don't think many are interested in putting a bridge right through Lake Lavon, nor pay a toll to use it.

[Local Resident]

That would help by a mile or two, but would still save time. I still don't believe that our Lake should be made as a haven for the "rich" though.

Mays wrote:

<quoted text>I think as Kay said "The County has plans for extending Park Road from the west over to Spring Creek Parkway at the Hwy 78 Wylie WalMart." that thhis is the best idea for our area. It will cost less and will solve a majority's problems. The County plans on making the Lake Lavon Bridge a "Toll" bridge. I don't think many are interested in putting a bridge right through Lake Lavon, nor pay a toll to use it.

[Mays]

I don't see Lake Lavon as a haven for the rich at all...wildlife yes.

[Kay]

Dear Nevada Resident!

We want many of the same things.
Based on what we have been told, it is highly likely, the bridge part of this project will be toll. County Commissioner Joe Jaynes said it would definitely be a toll bridge.

Like you, many people we've talked to feel years of taxes have been paid and yet nothing has been done. Now, when a plan does finally appear, it is a probable TOLL bridge? This disturbs them.

Yes, there is an URGENT need to fix the commute for folks. This need won’t wait on a bridge. Joe Jaynes says that this bridge may be 20 to 30 years before it’s built. During this time, the County has very little incentive to make the area’s roadways better, because it will destroy a toll company’s motivation for investing. An improved highway 78 or a proper extension of Park Blvd. would be in direct competition with a toll company's profit, so improving these roads will actually work against Collin County's goal of a toll road. That does not put the citizens in a very good place.

We do not want a White Rock Lake atmosphere around Lake Lavon. When Todd and I were interviewed by Dallas morning news, the article focused way too much on our “retirement home.” Though we appreciate Mr. Housewright's article, it did not print all of what we said. We told him stories about the people we have talked to around the lake. If he had seen our place, he would have painted a different picture. We love our dirt roads and the good people in our 1954 fishing camp. That is where we want to build our 'retirement home', doing as much of the work as we can ourselves.(Pretty sure this is not the way they built those houses around White Rock.) If land values go "White Rock" high around Lake Lavon, I know Collin County would love it, but I suspect we would all have to move; we wouldn't be able to afford the property taxes. So, no, we do not want a White Rock Lake. We love Lake Lavon just like it is.

When talking about the ROW for the Outer Loop project, Joe Jaynes said "We are costing the tax payers money each day we do not get that ROW set. We have to get that line drawn before the land value goes up any higher." Jaynes also says we need to draw the Lake Lavon bridge lines now, before more folks move out that way, as he is concerned about the new citizens. Yet, the HNTB paths often target the only homes and neighborhoods in miles. It is clear they are not targeting open land. It is clear they do not care about the people that live there now. Their only concern is cheap land for the tax payers. I suppose, we could consider this approach fiscally responsible, but the few thousand dollars of tax payer money saved, in no way justifies the human suffering drawing this path causes.

HNTB followed the lower property values as they chose the paths, house or no house. Collin County or HNTB obviously consider these folks expendable. We don't. For some of these families, even if they received today's full “market value” for their homes, the check would not be enough to buy a new truck. If the county gets its way, and draws the path, the land value under that line begins to drop immediately. After 10, 15, 20 years sitting beneath that ROW, the county gets to pay even less; Collin County is basically setting its own price. If that is not criminal, it should be.

Like you, most of the SaveLakeLavon folks have lived for generations in the areas around the lake. They could have moved to a more convenient place, but they love it here. I can tell, you love the area just as much as we do, and you are just looking for a way to fix this traffic mess. You do not want to see anyone suffer, and we certainly take comfort in that. The only place we differ is how to get this job done.

[heartandmind]

Enough with the toll roads. Collin County has had a spider's web added in the last several years and has it helped? Look at the traffic in Frisco - it's crazy bad!
Pretty soon at the rate the state & county are building toll roads, we'll all be stuck having to pay taxes AND tolls if we want to get anywhere in the metroplex, much less in Collin County.
I'm of the mind that 78 has needed work for at least the better part of a decade - I've been driving through that area at least since the late 80s. Rush hour traffic is so backed up at 78 and 205 it's ridiculous! At least it's been somewhat aided through Wylie, Sachse and into Garland with the widening of that section of 78. You can't convince me that the authorities haven't been aware of the problems for as long as everyone else has been - and it's only going to get worse through the coming decade or so. Look at the population explosions and development out towards Princeton and Farmersville and Lavon. It's no longer the "country" that it once was. Add to that, all the additional taxes that are being paid - you can't convince me that there's no way to adjust the coming year's budgets to accomodate necessary road widening and improvements.
I say just widen 78 to 6 lanes all the way out to Farmersville, and then gradually step back down over several miles to a more sedate 2 laned road. 205 and 78 intersection needs to be addressed first and foremost - how would an emergency vehicle get through there when traffic's really bad at this point?
Raising taxes and toll (or troll) roads aren't the solution - they're part of the problem.

[Kay]

"Raising taxes and toll (or troll) roads aren't the solution - they're part of the problem. "

Just got back from the Collin County's first Public Meeting on this bridge mess. WOW!!! Standing room only crowd! All saying, NO BRIDGE!!! The turnout was astounding! I'd say everyone there agrees with heartandmind 100% Get 78 FIXED already! That is the focus. Toll or no toll, the bridge is a BAD idea.