AMARILLO, TEXAS -- We've been telling you all week about the City of Amarillo and TxDOT teaming up to get your input about the future of Loop 335.
The first meeting took place Thursday night. .
In a presentation, it showed a video of a white sedan on Soncy. It made a left turn into the median and was just sitting and waiting. That means the black sedan that comes up behind it to make another turn can't, and traffic slows to a crawl.
"The development has really caused, has has to have a lot of access to the loop, that's caused a lot of congestion, that's caused a lot of mobility and safety issues and so we need to take a look at that and take the rotary that we have, the existing infrastructure that we have and see how we can improve mobility, which is how traffic flows, and also safety," said Paul Braun, the TxDOT Spokesman.
That's also the concern several residents who came to the first meeting.
"Access to where you need to go, in a timely manner, that's really what we're all interested in, isn't it?" said Beverly Damph, a resident who attended the meeting.
"I would like for it to be more of a loop and get rid some of this, not necessarily get rid of the stop lights, but get the traffic moving. I think the loop should be for traffic moving," said Gene Hendrick, who also attended the meeting.
And in order to that do, TxDOT and the City of Amarillo are holding meetings to get that input from people who drive on the loop every day, so that when the time comes, it can make the necessary improvements.
For those in attendance, they were able to speak one-on-one with city engineers and planners.
"We've got some people here that are deeply concerned and will cope with this," continued Damph.
"I like to see how their ideas of what need to happen is kinda interesting," continued Hendrick.
If you missed Thursday's meeting there are still two more.
The next one is next Thursday, June 30, 2011, at 5 p.m. at First United Bank.
The last one is Thursday, July 7, 2011, at 6 p.m. Civic Center's Hospitality room.
