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• Residents march to protest Morriss-Gerault expansion
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• Morriss/Gerault Road expansion project is a hot topic in Flower Mound

The contentious Morriss/Gerault Road project is under way in Flower Mound, but opponents of the expansion consider it a fair fight.

Halff Associates, the firm that was awarded the design contract, has started the design phase, which is expected to take six to nine months, said Kent Collins, assistant town manager. And once the design is complete, the phased construction will begin.

Leading up to the town council’s decision to move forward with the project, some residents voiced concerns, attended public forums, created an online petition and put up an organized protest.

Kim Berg, a blogger and member of the group Stop Morriss 6, has been at the forefront of the issue. He said that although the project is now moving forward, the group regards its efforts a success.

“The fact that we were able to work out a compromise as far as waiting several years to start the main part through the neighborhood, we consider that a victory,” Berg said. “The second part of the project won’t be until 2015. It buys us some time to make further changes. In the case that there are problems with the RiverWalk or studies come out that say the middle part isn’t needed, we still have the opportunity to convince them to change the scope of the project.”

The four-lane road will be expanded to six lanes, utilizing the center median, to allow for a projected traffic increase from the RiverWalk at Central Park, a forthcoming commercial and residential development.

Originally scheduled to start in 2010, the expansion of Morriss Road will begin later, while work on Gerault Road will start once the design phase is complete.

Phase One will include the construction of two additional lanes on Gerault Road and the flyover interchange at FM 2499, Collins said, as well as intersection improvements, fencing, landscaping and all safety improvements along the Morriss/Gerault corridor. More trees and plantings, sod, irrigation and living sound walls will be installed in the medians and rights-of-way, according to the action agenda.

There are no firm plans for intersections improvements because engineers are still in the early design stages, said Mark Wood, the town’s community affairs specialist.

Phase Two encompasses the expansion of Morriss Road by adding the two additional lanes, Collins said.

“The council approved two different triggers [for phase two],” Collins said. “One is the completion of the RiverWalk itself; the other is fiscal year 2014-15 [whichever comes first].”

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.