Community divided on proposed highway 79 widening project in Leon County

JEWETT, Texas (KBTX) -Residents and business owners in Leon County have mixed feeling about a highway project that would widen a 10-mile stretch of US 79 between Buffalo and Jewett.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) says the project is needed to enhance safety and improve mobility along the US 79 corridor, and hurricane evacuation route citing an increase in traffic volume and a high number of recorded crashes as the primary reasons for the expansion.

TxDOT’s proposed project, known as the “Existing Corridor Alternative,” involves expanding the US 79 corridor from two to four travel lanes. It also includes the addition of a wide grassy median between opposing lanes in rural segments, flattening curves to meet engineering standards, and reducing conflict points between vehicles by implementing Restricted Crossing U-Turn (R-CUT) median crossings. TxDOT says the plan also entails constructing new overpasses at FM 39 and the railroad crossing near the entrance to Nucor and incorporating pedestrian and bicycle improvements in the community of Jewett.

TX Dot Map of proposed highway 79 expansion.

Earlier this week community members expressed their concerns about the project and want TxDOT to re-evaluate its plans and consider a previously suggested bypass as an alternative option.

Those in opposition to the widening project feel the by-pass is the best choice for the city because it would lessen the number of large trucks coming through town. They’re also concerned that the proposed changes would make it impossible to travel through the heart of Jewett while the roadway is under construction.

While there is opposition to the widening project there is also opposition to the bypass with some community members saying rerouting traffic around the city would devastate their businesses.

Kristy Vandergriff, Executive Director of the Jewett Area Chamber of Commerce says the majority of the businesses that the project would impact oppose the bypass option.

“Within the Jewett community overall, the concerns for what the highway project would do if there was a bypass far outweigh the benefits of what the highway project will do coming through town.,” said Vandergriff. “Business owners are concerned that the bypass will take away the pass-through customers. And as a whole, most businesses have more than half of their customer base from pass-through customers that are coming through Jewett from other communities.”

Kristy Vandegriff, Jewett Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director. (Donnie Tuggle/Bryan-College Station)

The chamber of commerce says business owners are also concerned with the cost associated with the project that would eventually be passed on to taxpayers. Vandergriff says initial estimates range between $158 million and $196 million. She says for a city that only takes in roughly $100,000 in property taxes every penny counts.

“That’s a large difference in the cost for this project. And when you weigh the cost versus the benefits or the negatives, therefore, again, for many of our business community, there is not a comparison when you’re talking about a 40 million difference in a price tag, whatever percentage, that the city has to come up with,” said Vandergriff. “That does not begin to compute with a hundred thousand dollars in property taxes. Choosing the less expensive route and the better route for the city is the decision that makes sense.”

Donna Hull, Co-Owner of Hometown Pizza on Highway 79 in Jewett says she feels the same way about the project.

“A lot of our business comes from schools that are coming through, traveling to the different schools. They travel. Highway 79, a lot of your truck drivers that are looking for something to eat, a lot of people that are just traveling in general, they stop and they’ll say, we didn’t even know you were here,” said Hull.

Hometown Pizza Co-Owner Donna Hull showing pictures of some of the places that would benefit from the highway widening project. (Donnie Tuggle/Bryan-College Station)

“The bypass. If that was the decision that TXDOT had made It will kill our town. We will not have near the business that we have. A lot of your businesses would shut down. Jobs would be lost,” Hull said.

“The Highway 79 expansion needs to come through Jewett straight through the town,’ Hull expressed.

Hull says growing up and traveling with her mom and grandmother to areas like Bryan-College Station she’s seen first-hand how bypasses have impacted other small cities.

“Seeing some of the historic stuff in Downtown Bryan close and it is 20-something years before the theater reopened, is it the Lasalle Hotel that’s in downtown Bryan it was years before that reopened, years before Downtown Bryan was this beautiful and as thriving as it once was,” said Hull.

“I have a friend that is a small business owner out of Teague Texas, the Highway 84 bypass. There’s nothing left in the downtown Teague area except where the locals come. She had a salon there for years. She recently closed it,” Hull added.

Highway 79 Sign outside Jewett, TX (Donnie Tuggle/Bryan-College Station)

Hull and Vandegriff say while they understand that construction may pose a challenge for business owners and community members during the project it’s only temporary.

“The construction will be for a little while. The benefits after it will be great. Construction is temporary and patience is a virtue,” said Hull. “You shop local, you shop small, you stay here and you pour your money back into the town to get through the construction to where the benefits for our growing town here far outweigh the cost and the inconvenience of the construction.”

“The business community feels that it will be a shorter amount of time, number one. Additionally, even throughout that period, we’re going to have construction workers and the people working here in town who will be contributing money to our community,” said Vandergriff. “They will need accommodations, food, and access to services such as gas stations. So, even if people find an alternative route from Houston to Austin, instead of using Highway 79, the construction will persist and continue to stimulate the local economy.”

Community members say the addition of an overpass, sidewalks, and other traffic control devices will further make their community safe and draw in more visitors.

More information on the proposed project can be found here.

Photo gallery from Donna Hull showcasing some areas of concerns around Jewett that she says will be addressed with the expansion.