Neighbors oppose McKinney Street changes

Residents and business owners worry widening project will stymie drivers

Residents and property owners at McKinney Street and Loop 288 in Denton say two planned road projects could wreak havoc on traffic flow in the area.

The state’s plans to widen the roads and add raised medians could block access to homes and businesses and force more cars onto neighborhood streets, critics say. They want more median breaks and turn lanes to allow drivers better mobility.

“Whoever thought this idea up, the son of a gun doesn’t live on this street or he wouldn’t have it,” said Bill Eason, who lives on Bluebird Circle, just northwest of the intersection. “If they put that much traffic through here, it’s just a matter of time before it hits a little kid.”

Texas Department of Transportation officials say they’re still working to tweak the plans to make sure traffic runs smoothly through the area. City engineers also have suggested changes to address residents’ concerns.

“We’re currently looking at all options,” said Joe Jancuska, a TxDOT engineer. “We’re trying to find the best solution [for median breaks and turn lanes] for both now and in the future.”

The intersection of North Loop 288 and East McKinney Street, also called FM426, is poised for a dramatic makeover in coming years.

Police clamp down at tricky exit

Enforcement aimed at decreasing accidents on I-35E at Loop 288 exit

There is no good way to get to the South Loop 288 shopping area, but Denton police plan to make one access point at least a little safer.

Officers will be stepping up enforcement on Interstate 35E at the South Loop 288 exit to try to cut down on the large number of rear-end collisions and other accidents that happen there.

Road construction on the loop encourages many drivers to access the area from Interstate 35E southbound. That exit also is a main artery to Lillian Miller Parkway and large housing developments, plus business on the service road farther south. It also provides access to the northbound service road that is a major access point to Golden Triangle Mall.

Just before that exit is the on-ramp from Dallas Drive, which merges into the left lane of southbound I-35E. Many of those drivers are trying to cross all lanes of traffic to get to the Loop 288 exit on the right.

That puts thousands of drivers every day with destinations in every direction onto a short ramp.

Diver drowns at Ray Roberts

Four people die at Lewisville Lake over July Fourth weekend

The Fourth of July weekend proved to be among the deadliest in recent memory for swimmers at area lakes, with six people confirmed drowned from Friday to Sunday and a seventh clinging to life.

Lewisville Lake, long considered one of the region’s most dangerous lakes for swimmers, claimed four lives over the weekend, including three men whose bodies were recovered Sunday and a 3-year-old Carrollton girl located Friday.

In Ray Roberts Lake, searchers found the body of a man in his early 30s who had gone scuba diving for the day with his twin brother, said Capt. Neal Bieler of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Officials said conditions at area lakes were not unusually dangerous and crowd sizes were normal for the holiday weekend.

“We just want people to go out, have a good time and be safe,” said game warden Lt. Jennifer Kemp of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. “If that means wearing a life jacket while you swim, it’s better to do that and be sure than not and take your chances.”

Tom Reedy, spokesman for the Denton County Sheriff’s Office, said someone called 911 at 5:38 p.m. Sunday when a man yelled that his diving partner had been missing for 10 minutes in Ray Roberts Lake.

A civilian diver helped emergency responders search for the missing man, and that diver found the man about 6:45 p.m., some 20 feet from the shore, Reedy said.

The brothers had been diving at Lookout Point, just southwest of Isle du Bois State Park.

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