Northlake wants to offer some traffic relief on its east side before school traffic ramps back up.
Town Council unanimously approved $600,000 in construction costs at its June meeting, which will go toward improving Cleveland-Gibbs Road near Westbridge Road.
The approved costs are part of an agreement between the town and the developer of the Canyon Falls residential community that will add an intersection north of Westbridge Drive that will have a dedicated right turn lane from the future Mulkey Lane, expand Cleveland-Gibbs at Westbridge and add a dedicated left turn lane on southbound Cleveland-Gibbs.
According to town documents, the developer will expand Cleveland-Gibbs Road to two lanes, but the street is expected to eventually be four lanes in its ultimate form.
Northlake Town Manager Drew Corn said the town opted to enter into an agreement with a developer already doing work in the area because it would help the project finish quicker.
“This is a partnership with the developer and we believe it is an expedited way to get this done before school starts,” he said. “We know this route is very important to families trying to get students to and from school.”
The town expects the work to be completed in August.
“I was really surprised to see this come up quickly,” said Mayor Brian Montini. “I appreciate staff taking my comments last meeting about trying to get this done before school starts, jumping on that and finding a way to make it happen.”
The town said it continues to fight infrastructure issues on its local roads because the state continues to fall behind on the projects it has planned in the area. Northlake is ready to improve its roads, but the state hasn’t caught up.
For now, the town is working to put a band-aid on the situation while TxDOT lags behind on access roads and two bridges.
“We have this challenge of aligning our local road system with the ultimate state road system, which is behind schedule,” said Corn.
The project on Cleveland-Gibbs Road is spurred from the realignment of Mulkey Lane over I-35W, which is still in progress, as well as projects on FM 407 and FM 1171 that have fallen behind.
“I’m going to vote for this and I’m for it, but we’re being expected to spend our town’s money to current problems that are created by other towns,” said council member Roger Session. “And TxDOT is who really needs to take care of the problem for us.”
The uncertainty has put pressure on Northlake to create solutions that don’t quite make sense with the construction timeline. Montini worries this project might turn into the same headache that Northlake commuters have dealt with at Mulkey Lane and Gibbs Road.
“We’re talking about the challenges of long-term planning to meet what the state has committed to us,” said Montini. “That’s why a lot of the road changes don’t make sense on face value. The roads that the state told us to design to are not here in a timely fashion.”
Corn and Montini credited Northlake’s staff and the Canyon Falls developer for finding a way to make the project work in hopes it will provide a bit of relief ahead of the upcoming school year.
“Our engineers found a solution, our attorney found a mechanism… and the developer was willing to partner with us seeing that it affected their residential area, as well,” said Corn. “It was definitely a team effort.”
