The thirst for urban expansion and new highway capacity hit a roadblock on the fringe of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolis.

A contentious battle over a planned expansion of Highway 380 in the Dallas-Fort Worth region is detailed in a recent article by Peter Simek.
Highway 380 is "hardly more than a little two-lane road," according to Simek, connecting remote farming communities between Greenville and into New Mexico, passing through the city of McKinney, where Simek lays the scene.
"In 2016, residents living along Highway 380 received notices from the Texas Department of Transportation informing them that Highway 380 would soon be transformed into a major freeway—a limited-access traffic artery as wide as 10 lanes in parts."
TxDOT is proposing the expansion in response to previous growth that has expanded the footprint of Dallas-Fort Worth region to these former agricultural lands. And more growth is expected: "According to the Texas Demographic Center, Collin County’s population is expected to grow from fewer than 800,000 people in 2010 to more than 3.8 million by 2050," according to Simek.
Growth or not, residents of McKinney aren't happy about the TxDOT's plans for Highway 280.
But just as traffic engineers tend to see limited-access freeways as the best solution to the challenges of urban growth, people generally don’t want freeways running through their backyards. As TxDOT began rolling out a suite of options for the design and location of the new freeway, the Highway 380 planning process devolved into the most contentious community battle in Collin County history.
The TxDOT chose a preferred alternative, with an estimated cost of $2.5 billion, for the expansion in March 2019 and embarked on an environmental study of the project at the beginning of 2020. Simek's focus, however, is on the local opposition to the plan, and the coalition of local residents and organizations working to prevent the project, turning neighbor against neighbor, in some cases, along the way.
FULL STORY: Does McKinney Really Need a New Highway?

Four ‘Low-Hanging Fruit’ Zoning Reforms
An excerpt from the latest book on zoning argues for four approaches to reform that can immediately improve land use regulation in the United States.

Houston Apartments To Be Demolished for Freeway Widening
Despite a federal hold on the controversial freeway widening project, the Texas Department of Transportation is pushing ahead with the demolition of an apartment complex in downtown Houston.

San Francisco Just Ended Single-Family Zoning
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to Tuesday to eliminate single-family zoning, but pro-development advocates say additional changes are needed to unleash a wave of construction.

California Budget Includes $4.2 Billion for High-Speed Rail
The recently approved state budget directs $4.2 billion in bond funding to the Bakersfield-to-Merced leg of California’s long-awaited high-speed rail project.

Biden’s Environmental Legacy (So Far)
President Biden campaigned on promises to restore many of the environmental regulations rolled back by the previous administration, while promising new efforts to tackle environmental injustice and climate change.

Help! Not Police! Crisis Responses That Avert Police Calls
Cities, court systems, citizen groups, and affordable housing operators are crafting ways of responding to emergencies that reduce the risk of negative police interactions.
Grand Valley Metropolitan Council
City of Bothell
Town of San Anselmo
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Harvard Graduate School of Design Executive Education
Harvard Graduate School of Design Executive Education
City of Apache Junction
City of Helena
Gallatin County, Montana
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Hand Drawing Master Plans
This course aims to provide an introduction into Urban Design Sketching focused on how to hand draw master plans using a mix of colored markers.