The Flower Mound Transportation Commission is listening to residents about the Morriss Road/Gerault Road expansion project.

At the commission’s April 21 meeting, 22 people voiced concerns ranging from a potential for an increase in noise pollution and crime rates to a decrease in property values and air quality caused from added traffic,among others.

A date for the public hearing in which residents can discuss the project was considered but not set. When the committee sets the date, it will be posted on the town’s Web site, flower-mound.com.

The four-lane road is projected to expand to six lanes starting in winter 2010 in anticipation of the increased traffic from the RiverWalk at Central Park, a future commercial and residential development. The project is expected to utilize the center median for the expansion rather than widen the street.

“It’s going to severely affect the housing values,” resident Leo Gonya said. “People are going to have a hard time selling their homes for the price they paid.”

Gonya’s wife, Lorraine, was concerned with their view of the road. She and several other residents say they chose to purchase property in the area for the landscaping along Morriss Road/Gerault Road and don’t want to see it replaced with sound-proofing walls.

Residents asked whether the traffic estimates should be recalculated because they were estimated during times of heavy construction along Morriss Road/Gerault Road.

But Brian Shamburger with Kimley-Horn and Associates, the engineering firm involved in the project, said that given the number of construction projects in the area, it would be highly unlikely that a projection could be completed in only areas where no construction was taking place.

“If projects were going on, we tried to avoid those areas or look at areas historically,” he said.

But a main issue residents voiced was the inconvenience of bringing outside traffic through their predominately residential neighborhood.

Although the current population in Flower Mound is a little more than 60,000, that doesn’t account for the commercial population to come, Shamburger said. The future traffic on Morriss Road/Gerault Road will warrant six lanes, he added.

Assistant Town Manager Kent Collins said the future River Walk at Central Park could fit Southlake Town Center, Parker Square and the Shops at Highland Village inside of it with room to spare.

Jim Robertson, Place 6, said he understands the inconvenience of living off of a main thoroughfare but asked the residents to realize that the Morriss Road/Gerault Road corridor belonged to everyone.

“Think at a regional level, not an individual level,” he said.

Lindsey Bever is a reporter with neighborsgo and can be reached at 972-436-5551 ext. 3004 or via e-mail at lbever@neighborsgo.com. If you have a story, photo or video you'd like to share, please post it directly on neighborsgo.com.