Best of Flower Mound #1: Traffic

I guess it's hard to relate the words "best of Flower Mound" and "traffic" in the same sentence, but I'll tell you what works here. I like the way the roads are laid out. Unlike Lewisville, where the streets are laid out in a grid, Flower Mound is built around a framework of old country roads that were draped across the community in such a way to connect important places together. The Flower Mound map may appear more irregular in the way the city's laid out, but there are better shortcuts to get from point A to point B. Morriss Road, Firewheel Road, even Flower Mound Road (west of FM2499) are good examples of point-to-point roads that take you directly where you want to go, without having to go up-and-over like you would in a grid.

The waiting is the hardest part -- let's open up FM2499

Here's an e-mail I just sent to the Town website, via the "Have a Question" link? I'll let you know what I hear.

I thought the FM2499 construction was supposed to be done in stages, from south to north.

If that's the case, why are there still cones along the new lanes of FM2499 south of FM3040. The only thing left to do on this first stretch of widening work is to put grass or cement in the medians. Why can't they open the new lanes to traffic? It's been two months at least since the new inside lanes were finished, at least south of Northshore Boulevard? Why not open these lanes now?

I look forward to your response.

Thanks,
Chip Mahaney

The big fire Friday night

Quite a scene Friday night on FM2499 just north of Grapevine Mills Mall. I was driving home from downtown Dallas around 7pm when I saw a huge plume of smoke coming up from somewhere near the mall. The fire was consuming the clubhouse of the Marquis at Silver Lake apartment complex, which is just south of the Flower Mound town line, just north of the Starbucks by Magic Mikes. It was a huge fire. I heard later that 9 different fire agencies responded to fight the fire and keep it from spreading. I didn't have any camera better than my Treo cam (the video posted here), so I called FOX 4, and we had video on our 9pm news. Fortunately for the residents, no one's apartment home was damaged. The clubhouse, which was self-standing, suffered significant damage. Perhaps there's enough of it to rebuild, however.

I had no problem passing by the apartments heading home to Flower Mound. People were slowing down to get a look, but traffic was moving. But 30 minutes later, my wife and I were heading back south on FM2499 to see a movie at the mall. By now, FMPD had closed off southbound FM2499 at Gerault, which was causing a lengthy south-bound backup.

Note to FMPD: Next time you need to shut off that stretch of road, how bout doing it at the Silveron intersection. That way traffic can easily go east toward 121 or west to the Grapevine Lake Dam. There are fewer ways out if you let the traffic go all the way south to Gerault. The backups were much longer than they should have been at that hour of the night.

FMPD nabbing Northshore residents and others for illegal right turns

Perhaps this is tied to the new construction on FM2499, but twice in the past week I've noticed an FMPD officer pulling over drivers for violating a "no right turn between 7-9am" sign that's posted on McKamy Creek Blvd just before the 3-way stop at Woodhill. Woodhill connects with McKamy in between the new light at Old Settlers and the soon-to-be-turned on light at Flower Mound Road. The "no right turn" sign was posted on McKamy years ago to keep morning rush-hour traffic from using the Villages of Northshore as a cut-through alternative to going through the 2499/3040 intersection.



The problem with this sign though is that it doesn't allow even Northshore residents to enter our own neighborhood, which is a total pain for those of us who take our kids to Old Settlers Elementary and McKamy Middle School. We can't get back to our homes without having to go all the way around the neighborhood, and on to FM2499. I feel similar sympathy for our neighbors in Lake Forest and Woodlake Estates, immediately to the south of Northshore, particularly those with kids at Old Settlers.

So when I saw the officer with three cars pulled over the other morning, I thought I'd find out if he was ticketing thru-drivers or neighbors. Turns out it's both.

I filed an Open Records Request with the Town Secretary's office, and I got a response in record time, about 4 hours. Here's what the records show:

Between 6:58am and 8:54am on Monday December 18, Officer Kevin Schmidt issued 13 citations for this "no right turn" infraction. All 13 had Flower Mound addresses. 8 lived in Wellington, Bridlewood or other neighborhoods farther west -- these were likely cut-through drivers. But 5 of the ticketed drivers lived in Northshore, Lake Forest or Woodlake Estates. I feel sorry for all these drivers, particularly for the one ticketed driver who lives on Elmridge, which is just a few feet beyond the Woodhill/McKamy Creek intersection.

I realize it was my Northshore neighbors who, years ago, lobbied the Town for this "no right turn" sign, but I don't think it's right that Northshore/Lake Forest/Woodlake neighbors are denied legal access into their own neighborhood via the most direct means.

Why can't we amend the ordinance and change the sign to read "no thru traffic", as opposed to a general "no right turn"?

By the way, you can download the open-records spreadsheet for yourself, by clicking here. Thanks to Ginger and Shirley at the Town of Flower Mound for such a speedy turnaround on the data!

FM2499 update: access to shopping centers closed

I was disappointed to see this. For the time being at least, the turn-ins to the shopping centers on FM2499 on both sides of FM3040 are closed (see red lines on the map). No longer can you drive southbound on FM2499 to turn left into Tom Thumb or Blockbuster. No longer can you drive northbound on FM2499 and turn left to get to Chili's or Cici's. Sure doesn't seem like this was necessary, since they haven't closed off the turn-ins for Northshore Blvd. or Lake Flower Rd.

Still the best road in town

I was driving home from Vista Ridge tonight during rush hour, and remembering how long it used to take to drive FM3040 around 5pm. You could spend 30 minutes going the 5 miles from I-35 to FM2499. Tonight, it took less than 7 minutes.

How to spend 2 hours in your car and never leave Flower Mound

I had today off from the TV station. With the wife at work and the kids at school, I spent the day taking care of stuff around Flower Mound. My car has a timekeeper in it, to measure how much time I spend on each trip. That timer resets to 0:00 if my car is parked for more than two hours, but it keeps growing up and up if I drive it regularly throughout the day. When I was driving home at 6pm tonight, I looked at my dash and saw I had driven 2 hours and 9 minutes in my car today, and I'd never left Flower Mound.

Here are the stops I made:

Started at home.
Old Settlers Elementary (drop off kids for school)
Main Street Vet (drop off dog for procedure)
Home
Chick-Fil-A (to pick up lunch for kid #1)
Old Settlers Elementary (lunch with kid #1)
Lifetime Fitness
Sonic (next door)
Culvers (2499/3040) (to pick up lunch for kid #2)
Old Settlers Elementary (lunch with kid #2)
Back in Time barber shop (2499/Churchill)
Old Settlers Elementary (pick up kids after school)
Home
Dr. Hudelson's allergy clinic (next door to library)
Kroger (1171/2499)
Kohl's
Main Street Vet (pick up dog)
Home

All that took over 2 hours in the car. How many miles? Take a guess. 25 miles in just over 2 hours. That's a lot of school zones and red lights (and a couple of drive-thrus where I didn't cut off the engine).

Christmas shopping and the Grapevine Mills traffic jams

Remember those two years or so back in the mid-late 1990s when the FM2499 flyover allowed Flower Mound-bound traffic to whiz by the farmland that is now Grapevine Mills Mall? No traffic lights, no slow traffic? That "speedway" is long gone. Now, it's a rare journey when you can make it past both of the mall traffic lights without having to stop for red at one or two. The holiday season makes the traffic around the mall that much worse. Be careful when exiting 121 to get onto FM2499. You may find a traffic backup hiding on the backside of the overpass, and too close for you to stop in time.