Coppell Chronicle Vol. 4, No. 41
Interstate 635 to be Closed Overnight • Condos Proposed Near DART Bridge • Burying Power Lines Would be Costly • Letters Warn of Possible Lead in Pipes
Do you have a hard-to-shop-for Coppellican on your Christmas or Hanukkah list? Perhaps a college freshman or high school senior who needs a way to stay connected to their hometown? If so, then I have a suggestion:
Interstate 635 to be Closed Overnight
Normally, this newsletter’s contents should be of no interest to people who don’t live in Coppell or Coppell ISD. But if you know anyone who drives on highways in the Dallas-Fort Worth area or patronizes DFW Airport, you may want to give them a heads-up: The stretch of Interstate 635 that borders Coppell will be closed for at least one evening this week.
During an October meeting of the Coppell City Council, City Manager Mike Land said that portion of 635 would be closed for an entire weekend so Texas Department of Transportation contractors can make progress on a new U-turn lane at Belt Line Road. He said this would likely happen in early December; TxDOT was supposed to provide the public with 30 days’ notice.
I hadn’t heard or read another word about this until Thanksgiving Day, when I was driving home from a predawn workout in Grapevine. I saw a temporary sign on 635, west of Royal Lane, that said “FREEWAY TO BE CLOSED.” The sign indicated the closure will begin at “11 p.m. on Dec. 5,” which is this Thursday. I then checked to see if there was a similar sign advising westbound drivers of the closure; I found one east of MacArthur Boulevard that said the freeway will be closed at 11 p.m. on Dec. 4. Neither sign indicates when the closure will end, which may lead some drivers to interpret this as a permanent arrangement.
I couldn’t find any mention of these closures on the Department of Transportation’s social media. I also couldn’t find any information about the U-turn project on the department’s website. That seemed odd because these closures have the potential to impact thousands of drivers, given how many people use 635 as their path to and from the airport.
I tried to contact a TxDOT spokesperson on Friday to get more details, but my inquiry went unanswered. Because Land had previously demonstrated access to inside information, I dared to interrupt his holiday weekend. He pointed me to a subsection of the TxDOT website that says the highway’s westbound lanes will be blocked between Olympus Boulevard and Freeport Parkway from midnight until 4 a.m. on Thursday. The same thing will supposedly happen to the eastbound lanes between midnight and 4 a.m. on Friday.
I had seen this page on the TxDOT website before, when a subscriber had alerted me to its warning that all eastbound lanes of 635 would be blocked at Luna Road for overnight construction in August. Coincidentally, that page says all but one of the highway’s eastbound lanes will be blocked at Luna again between 9 p.m. on Monday and 5 a.m. on Tuesday.
Sounds like bookmarking that page would be a smart move, as would avoiding late-night trips on 635 this week.
Condos Proposed Near DART Bridge
A developer whose multifamily plans were rejected has gone back to the drawing board.
Last year, the Coppell City Council denied a zoning change requested by Coppell resident Vijay Borra. He owns an L-shaped lot along South Belt Line Road that is both south and east of Armando’s Tacos and Bimmer Motor Specialists. Borra wanted to build a four-story complex there that would have featured 120 apartments leased exclusively to people ages 55 or older.
(See “Senior Living Rejected Near DART Bridge” in Vol. 3, No. 43.)
Last month, the Coppell Planning and Zoning Commission considered Borra’s revised plans for the same property. Now he’s proposing to build a four-story complex that would feature 71 condominiums. These condos would be sold to anybody, regardless of age.