Sunday, June 28, 1998

The Winters Freeway underpass issue revisited

By Norman Gooch

On Jan. 8, 1995, the Abilene Reporter-News published my guest column concerning the proposal to remodel the Buffalo Gap/Winters Freeway underpass. I urged that we postpone this project and instead that we build at least one new underpass before tearing up the existing one. I suggested one of two locations -- Sayles Boulevard or Ridgemont Drive.

Much to my surprise, the response was overwhelming. Letters of approval flooded the Opinion Page. A front-page article including a map prepared from the information I had furnished served to fuel the fire, and another concerned taxpayer, B.C. Roberson, joined me in circulating a petition. Time was running short prior to the big meeting at City Hall, but in two weeks time we had a list of signatures that, when unfolded, measured more than eight feet long. We presented copies to the mayor and to the City Council.

I will not bore you with any more of the history of this ordeal, but I will give you the bottom line. The state turned us down. Again, in the interest of saving space in the newspaper, I will sum it up by quoting TxDOT"s area engineer, Blair Haynie: "The cost of one of these underpasses would be about $5 million. Right now, most of the money for new construction in this district is tied up in the Loop 322 interchange project. And it will be at least 1999 before the district has the money to build another overpass here.”

In the first place we were not talking about a $5 million bridge. We were talking about an overpass like the Ambler/Winters crossing, which, according to one of our leading contractors, would be more like $1.7 million.

I"ll stick my neck out one more time. 1999 is almost here. It will be by the time we get through "discussing it,” if it should reach that stage. And I want to give you one recent observation.

Time: 5:50 p.m., June 17, 1998. Believe it or not, the underpass on Buffalo Gap "Speedway” was empty. We had a red light, and by the time the people on Industrial got a left-turn signal, the cars were backed up all the way beyond the Department of Public Safety office. We did not follow these cars, but I would bet most of the occupants live in Stonegate, Buttonwillow, Woodlake, Windham or the east half of Fairway.

Some of them did not make the light and had to wait for another "long play” light change. These folks would have been already eating supper had there been an underpass at Sayles.

I cannot understand the lack of concern for this problem. Let me bore you with a few more numbers, taken from the AAA Road Atlas, 1997 and the Rand McNally 1987, but in each case the source was the current U.S. Census. There must be credibility.

Abilene population, 1987 -- 98,315; Abilene population, 1997 -- 106,654. Increase: 8,339 or 8 percent.

Your guesses would be as good as mine as to how many of these 8,339 people live south of the Winters Freeway.

All I ask is that you take a two-hour tour, as we did recently, and make your own judgment.

And while you"re at it, take into account the vast development south of FM 707, which is not as yet in the Abilene city limits.

Norman Gooch is a retired home-builder and Air Force pilot who lives in Abilene.