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Haslet planners briefed on Blue Mound Road and FM 156 intersection improvements, traffic analysis
Summary
Planning staff presented preliminary traffic analysis showing a three‑lane configuration with center turn lane would address queuing on Blue Mound Road at FM 156; an earlier 20‑year $55 million bond concept was deferred and developers are expected to shoulder part of intersection costs.
City planners and a city official briefed the Planning and Zoning Commission on Jan. 28 about forthcoming roadway projects focused on Blue Mound Road and the intersection with FM 156.
A prior engineering concept for a full rebuild of Blue Mound Road was estimated at about $55 million and the city official said he advised against placing that full bond proposal on the November ballot because the 20‑year debt service would have nearly doubled the local property tax rate (the official said an illustrative additional $0.29 on the $0.35 tax rate was a possible outcome under that scenario). Since then, two traffic engineers completed traffic impact analyses (TIAs) that preliminarily support a three‑lane roadway (one lane each direction plus a center turn lane) to handle existing and near‑term development traffic.
The presenters said intersection improvements at Blue Mound Road and FM 156 would provide a dedicated right lane, a through lane, and a dedicated left‑turn lane in both east and west approaches to reduce queueing and improve access to FM 156. The city noted that a nearby large development outside city limits (identified in the presentation as the LaPral development) will bear part of the intersection improvement cost through its required traffic mitigation, so the city will not be responsible for the entire project cost.
Commissioners asked about lane‑storage depth and how many vehicles each dedicated lane could queue; staff said the TIAs will provide lane‑capacity and storage‑length estimates and that the city’s direction to engineers is to size the turn/queueing lanes large enough to make a measurable difference (staff said the needed storage could be several hundred feet if required). Presenters noted the work can likely be completed within the city’s existing right of way.
Staff also described recent signal improvements at the FM 156 intersection (replacement of older camera detection with radar detection and “tuning” of timing), and said more signal optimization is expected as part of the planned intersection changes. The city said separate coordination with TxDOT and municipal authority under the transportation code will guide final designs.
No formal action was taken; staff asked the commission to consider the project in its planning role and to expect further engineering reports and cost estimates.
