Normally, you would find an executive summary at the end of a discussion paper but here, I've opted to place it first and foremost. The summary of what I'm about to say below is, "North and East Lubbock got screwed once again!"
Randy Hopmann, Lubbock District Engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation was on the radio this week crowing about all the new road construction going on in Lubbock, Texas. For example, there's the "comes from nowhere and goes nowhere Marsha Sharp Freeway" which is draining so many financial resources that the City of Lubbock and Lubbock County will be feeling the ill-effects of not having any additional financial resources for roads for almost a decade to come.
Normally, I would listen to the interview and wonder why Randy is currently on a radio tour pimping his wares? But what caught my attention instead was a caller's question. The caller wanted to know the status of the "outer loop" project.
For those of you who might not know, there exists an organization whose purpose is to plan roads and highways for Lubbock's future. According to their website,
http://www.lubbockmpo.org/index.htm , "The LMPO, more formally called the Lubbock Metropolitan Planning Organization, is a federally mandated organization developed to coordinate the highway, transit, and land use planning process in order to receive federal funds for highway and transit improvements... "
But back to the question, what is the "outer loop?" Of course everyone's heard of Loop 289 which encircles the City of Lubbock. Well, the "outer loop" is just that, another road, just like Loop 289 but further out. Further out into Lubbock County. In fact, if you take a look at a map of San Antonio, Texas you will see an excellent example of what I am talking about. Two big circles going around the city of San Antonio, making the city look like a bullseye from above.
So why is North and East Lubbock screwed? Because the Lubbock Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) voted for a partial loop around the City. Of course, the loop will be completed in northwest Lubbock, and going counter-clockwise, the loop will continue into west Lubbock, southwest Lubbock, south Lubbock and even into southeast Lubbock. But the loop WILL NOT go all the way around into northeast Lubbock.
Randy's response to the
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