Quick growth, narrow roads cause Hallsville traffic tie-up
Officials entertain bypass option for morning, afternoon problem centered in city's downtown
By JIMMY ISAAC
The Longview News-Journal
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
HALLSVILLE — Quick growth and narrow roads have created traffic headaches for the town's 3,000 residents, and officials think a relief route is their only answer.
 Jimmy Isaac/The Longview News-Journal Traffic is backed up Friday along FM 450 south of U.S. 80 in Hallsville. Officials say quick growth and narrow roads have created the traffic problem. |
The latest state transportation estimates show that 3,100 cars travel two-lane FM 450 through South Hallsville each day. All six Hallsville Independent School District campuses are within two blocks of the two-mile stretch of road, causing a recurring scene every morning and afternoon — bumper-to-bumper traffic, drivers waiting as many as four cycles through traffic lights, school buses driving within two inches of the pavement's end and dozens of left-turn options without a left-turn lane.
U.S. 80 West bustles with bedroom commuters to Longview, attracting 12,400 cars a day — almost as many as on Loop 281 at the Longview Mall — according to the Texas Department of Transportation's 2006 State Planning Report.
Downtown is the heart of the problem, where trains speed through at up to 50 mph sometimes twice during peak hours. The railroad tracks and their 30-yard proximity to the U.S. 80/FM 450 intersection complicates the problem and possible solutions, said Marcus Sandifer, spokesman for the Texas Department of Transportation's Atlanta District.
"It's almost impossible to build an overpass there, particularly with all the homes," Sandifer said. "The only alternative is to build a bypass, and I don't think anyone there has brought that up."
A $678,000 resurfacing project was completed on the 3.1-mile stretch of FM 450 in south Hallsville this past summer. Roughly one month later, a train collided with a tractor-trailer rig at the tracks moments before 8 a.m. on Sept. 28.
Small-town traffic is not an uncommon issue with regional transportation planners.
A north-south bypass might have little effect on FM 450 traffic. Hallsville is the biggest town along the route, and the largest area employers are south of town, where Interstate 20 attracts drivers. Harrison County Commissioner James Greer thinks a north-south bypass around the west and southwest side of Hallsville is the best option.
The commissioner's wife, Hallsville ISD Public Relations Director Carol Greer, said traffic has increased on FM 450 along with the school's movement from the west side of the road to the east side during the past 50 years. Adding two traffic lights and staggering school campus opening and closing times has helped, but now is the time to act for the community's safety, she said.
"Since the safety of our students is always our No. 1 priority, we emphasize safe driving and do ask that everyone be extra cautious during school drop-off and pick-up," she said.
South Hallsville streets have been repaved, and Cypress Lane was widened for better mobility for Tealwood Subdivision residents, according to Mayor Charles Dawson. He's talked with regional transportation officials, and a loop is Hallsville's best option, he said.
"We have 2,979 people who live in the city of Hallsville. Our school district is 188 square miles, and we have 4,037 students this year in the Hallsville ISD," Dawson said. "I look for that growth in the next seven to 10 years to reach 5,500 or 6,000 students. I don't think the loop would hurt the business people here inside the city of Hallsville that much because the ones that are going to come through here are going to come through here, anyway."
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East Texas cities' busiest roads
City Road Vehicles per day
Beckville Texas 149 south of FM 124 7,200
Big Sandy U.S. 80 west of Texas 155 North 10,100
Carthage U.S. 59 south of U.S. 79 East 15,700
Daingerfield U.S. 259/Texas 49/Texas 11 11,400
Gilmer U.S. 271 at Texas 155 26,000
Gladewater U.S. 80 at east city limits 14,500
Hallsville U.S. 80 west of Branch St. 12,400
Henderson U.S. 259/U.S. 79 south of E. Main St. 24,000
Hughes Springs Texas 49/Texas 11 east of FM 250 7,500
Jefferson U.S. 59 at south city limits 15,200
Kilgore Henderson Blvd. north of Houston St. 16,300
Lakeport Texas 149/Texas 322 at Sabine River 25,000
Lindale Interstate 20 west of U.S. 69 29,000
Linden U.S. 59 north of Texas 155 11,400
Lone Star U.S. 259 south of FM 250 8,500
Marshall Interstate 20 west of U.S. 59 34,000
Mount Pleasant U.S. 271 south of Texas 49 28,000
Ore City U.S. 259 north of FM 450 10,900
Overton/New London Texas 135 south of FM 850 7,100
Pittsburg U.S. 271 at north city limits 13,500
Tatum Texas 149 north of Texas 43 11,000
Tyler Loop 323 west of S. Broadway Ave. 46,000
Waskom Interstate 20 east of FM 134 34,000
White Oak U.S. 80 west of Texas 42 16,800
*According to the Texas Department of Transportation 2006 State Planning Report
