A Sunnyvale road along the border of Kaufman and Dallas counties will reopen in mid-July after a long and bumpy journey.
Neither county could claim responsibility for Lawson Road because it wasn't clear where the county line was.
Dallas County and Sunnyvale paid for maintenance costs until a surveyor told Dallas County the road belonged to Kaufman County.
The road wasn't maintained from 2003 until it closed in 2010.
"It was a mess, and you couldn't drive through it," Mesquite resident Bill Paddock said.
Dallas County Commissioner Mike Cantrell said Lawson Road was dangerous and hazardous.
"[It] had such big holes in it that someone could lose their car," he said.
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Finally, both counties got together and conducted studies to determine where the county line is, learning that 65 percent of Lawson Road is Dallas County and 35 percent is in Kaufman County.
Lawson Road will finally reopen in July as a 13-inch-deep concrete road.
"We basically took a road that was in no man's land -- because neither county could do anything with it -- and made it happen to where we now have a concrete road that could be very significant in the future," Cantrell said.
The $3.5 million construction project was funded by regional toll revenue from both Dallas and Kaufman counties.
"I think the biggest impact is just the safety component," Sunnyvale Town Manager Scott Campbell said. "We have a road that folks can have travel on it, and that was not the case before."
Residents said they are anxiously awaiting Lawson Road's reopening.
"It's about time," Bill Paddock said. "The detour was long, and it added another 15 to 20 minutes on your route time."
County commissioners said they would look at expanding the road to the George Bush Turnpike Eastern Extension.
