On June 13, two simultaneous public hearings were held on the proposed Segment C of the Grand Parkway. The Parkway is described by its promoters as a third loop around the city, 170 miles in length. Segment C would run south from US 59 in Fort Bend County to State Highway 288 in Brazoria County.

The stated justification for Segment C is to “improve mobility” and “reduce congestion” as well as to provide a new hurricane evacuation route for southern Brazoria County.

The hearings were to allow comment on a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) published earlier this summer. There are several proposed alignments for the segments, and these are often referred to as Option B, Option C, and so forth. For a map of these options and for the complete transcripts, see http://www.grandpky.com.

The comments at the hearing were overwhelmingly negative toward the roadway. The following is the slightly abbreviated comments of a Brazoria County resident, Denny Myers.

Mr. Denny Myers:
I want to tell you a little bit about how we found out we were affected by the Grand Parkway. We received a letter in March of ‘99 in the mail from a surveyor from some of the folks that I think have been represented here tonight, asking for permission to come on to our property to survey for a Grand Parkway right-of-way.I called a number of our neighbors and asked them if they knew anything about this. Very few of them had heard anything about it. There were a few like us that had received the letter. Most had heard nothing.

I then called the Grand Parkway requesting a map showing the proposed route. A few days later, I received a map from the Grand Parkway. I kind of scratched my head over that map. I looked at the county road numbers and so forth. I called the surveyor and described the map to him.

His comment to me was, “Where did you get that? That is wrong.”

So the surveyor, after several requests, sent me a map showing the proposed route across our property.

My thought at this point was, “Does anyone really know what’s going on?”

So, I set out to get some more information. Of course, in matters like these, you want some legal advice; and being a cheapskate like I am, I sought out at first some free advice.

I work for an independent oil company, North Central Oil; and we have an attorney on staff. Our guy’s name is Rob MacMillian. He’s a friend of mine. So I walked down to Rob’s office one day.

I said, “Rob, this Grand Parkway outfit is wanting to survey for a road across our property and through the heart of our neighborhood.” Rob kind of leaned back in his chair and rolled his eyes and said, “Let me tell you about the Grand Parkway. The Grand Parkway is a private organization funded by a bunch of real estate developers. They want to open up the countryside to subdivisions. Do not kid yourself about their propaganda showing scenic roadways and them wanting to help the current residents. They are in this for one reason: so they can make money.”

I thought those were interesting comments, but Rob had more to say.

He said, “I made the mistake of buying a house that backs up to the Grand Parkway in Cinco Ranch in Katy.” He said, “I have seen a steady increase in traffic at all hours, especially lots more big trucks at all kinds of hours.” He said, “So, another thing” - he was kind of philosophizing here - “but it seems to me that the Parkway’s development is very haphazard. It’s quite hit-and-miss, and if there is a plan, it must be a poor one.”

And he continued to expand. He said he didn’t agree with the Grand Parkway about the need for more roadways right now, supposedly based on projected growth rates for Houston. And he said that he felt like, in his opinion, what should be done is to improve traffic flow in other areas such as expanding existing key arteries.

And his other comment to our conversation was this: He said, “Frankly, Denny, I’m thinking about selling my home; that is, if I can get anything for it.”

So I want the people here tonight to hear the words from someone who has had the pleasure of living next to the existing Grand Parkway at Katy.

Let’s talk for a minute about the need for a new Parkway in our community, and let’s compare it to other segments of a proposed outer loop around Houston.

For those of us - and I think that’s about everybody here - familiar with Houston, we’re all aware of Houston’s expansion in different directions from Houston.

I believe you would all agree that Houston’s growth to the west and northwest has, for many years, outstretched the growth toward us to the south.

Tomball and Katy are virtually suburbs to Houston and I’ve got a number of colleagues that live in that direction and I’m somewhat familiar with them.

Let’s see what happened to the Grand Parkway’s planned segment to the Northwest of Houston between I-10 and I-45. Again, this is an area growing much more rapidly than we are; and that’s been the case for many years.

I want to cite an article from the Houston Chronicle - I have the article here for any of you that would like to see it - dated April 3rd, 1999, just a little over a year ago. The article is titled “Parkway Toll is Too Steep for Texas.”

To summarize, it says that traffic studies done for this Northwest segment did not show enough traffic volume to support a new road in that area.

The article goes on to quote a Grand Parkway opponent, James Blackburn, an environmental attorney. He is quoted as saying, “The low traffic numbers prove the road is not about congestion relief for Houston as backers emphasized. It is a road intended to develop property, not relieve congestion.”

Blackburn said that if the Parkway was meant to relieve existing congestion by diverting traffic around Houston, it should have access to the major freeways.

Well, it turns out the way they have it planned, there was an exit proposed for about 2.3 miles.

So, the State Transportation officials in Harris County said no last year, barely a year ago, to the Grand Parkway’s northwest segment. Traffic studies could not support a northwest segment for the busiest, fastest growing quarter segment away from Houston.

Now they want us to believe it makes sense for us, where our growth is much slower, to support a new roadway in our area.

I want to show both the Grand Parkway and the TxDOT folks here tonight my house. You were concerned about this house. I’m concerned about that house. I don’t want your freeway in my backyard.

And I can say the same for Mr. Nato’s house, Mr. Thompson’s house, the Vans’ house, and all of our other neighbors that we don’t want your freeway in our backyard or our property.

Thank you very much.