Plano's Windhaven Parkway to Be Expanded

By the end of 2014, dirt will be moving to add some breathing room to Plano's busy Windhaven Parkway.

The $3 million project, funded through a federal grant and locally-matched money, will extended Windhaven to six lanes from city limits near The Colony to Spring Creek Parkway.

"Right now, we don't really need the extra lanes but as the area develops out, we'll need the six lanes," said director of engineering Jack Carr. "The traffic volume is about 11,000 vehicles per day."

However, the plan has attracted public scrutiny, especially through some of the home owners associations and neighborhoods along the thoroughfare.

"There's so much traffic, with all these new lanes built, it's just going to get worse," said Kimberly Hilliard of Plano.

Hilliard and her husband say since they bought their home, separated only by a backyard and alley from Windhaven, the noise level from traffic has increased tenfold.

"It's constant," she said. "Our new neighbors, they had to get the triple pane windows because of the sound."

Neighbors have begun petitioning the city, appearing at the city council meeting Tuesday night to discuss their disagreement with the widening of the road.

The Hilliards and their neighbors worry about an increase in 18-wheeler traffic, noting that semis often exit the Sam Rayburn Tollway and cut down Windhaven, possibly to avoid tolls.

In 2010, resident complaints about an early project design convinced Plano's council to change the scope of the project's eastern side, reducing its width to four lanes from six.

Today, the rest of the project remains a six lane design, despite the complaints voiced this winter.

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