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Residents press commissioners on East Loop plans, consultant fees and potential I-14 routing
Summary
At the Jan. 14 public comment period, residents urged Brazos County officials to meet with affected constituents and questioned consultant payments, study costs and whether the East Loop or an outer loop could receive an I‑14 designation.
Residents of eastern Brazos County used the Jan. 14 public-comment period to press commissioners for more constituent outreach and clarity on the East Loop highway project, on consulting contracts and on whether the county’s inner or outer loop could be designated part of Interstate 14.
Beverly Greenwood of Bryan said she and her neighbors feel disenfranchised and asked the court to “step back and consider doing what you were elected to do, which is listen to your constituents.” Greenwood asked the court to explain an $11,000,000 contract and monthly payments of $15,000 to consultant John Polster, saying Brazos County has paid the consultant monthly since August 2020 and that public explanations of the timeline have been inconsistent.
Greenwood pressed the court about planning decisions tied to the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), asking whether prior MPO work would require re-evaluation before the county advances alternate alignments. She also raised the possibility — argued rhetorically in the meeting — of seeking an I‑214 designation for the inner loop to influence routing for I‑14.
Patrick Giamava, a resident near Midtown Park, criticized the county’s bus system and medians installed on local roads, and urged modernization of transit to smaller, demand-based vehicles and improved service design. He questioned whether the county and cities are spending nearly $1,000,000 across jurisdictions on a transit system that he said no longer meets rider demand.
The court did not take action on the comments during the meeting. Commenters asked that the court add future agenda items to permit formal hearings and a question-and-answer format on the East Loop project and on county water-resource impacts.
