Locals Appeal to La Grange City Council About Bluff Bypass Plan

The La Grange City Council heard lots of public comments at their meeting Monday night, July 8. Several residents who live in the Creamer Creek area spoke at the meeting against the plan for a new Highway 77 bypass around the Bluff.

Last month, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) asked the City Council whether they support the plan for a new route through the Creamer Creek area. The Council has not yet decided whether to endorse the plan.

Geoffery Stait, a resident on Creamer Creek Rd., said the proposed route would split his family’s property.

“That route divides my land in half,” Strait said. “My neighbors were unaware that this preferred route had been decided on or suggested by TxDOT. I’ve been talking to my neighbors and they’re really opposed to this solution. What they’re proposing to build destroys a valuable ecosystem around the Bluff.”

Strait said he was also concerned about businesses that might suffer from traffic diverted away from the center of town on US 77.

Clara Smith, who also lives on Creamer Creek Rd., asked the Council to support the eastern route that TxDOT had proposed before settling on the bypass through Creamer Creek. The eastern route would diverge from US 77 just south of Suncatcher RV Park and cross FM 155 at Loehr Rd. From there, it would cross the Colorado River near Camp Lone Star before connecting with SH 71 Bypass on the east side of La Grange.

“The recommended route is not the most beneficial,” Smith said. “It was previously shown as the least expensive route. Updated construction costs show the preferred route to be more expensive than the eastern option that would provide a route where there isn’t already one.”

According to TxDOT’s Feasibility Study, the preferred route through Creamer Creek would cost a little over $303 million. The eastern route, which TxDOT calls “Alternative 3” would cost about $266.4 million, even though it includes a new fourlane bridge across the Colorado River.

“Even if (Alternative 3) were more expensive, it would still be the best option,” Smith said.

Smith said she spoke with Jeff Vinklarek, the TxDOT representative who appeared at the Council meeting last month. Smith said Vinklarek told her that TxDOT could possibly reconsider the eastern route if both the City Council and Fayette County Commissioners Court requested it.

“I kindly ask that the current resolution of support not be signed for the preferred option through Creamer Creek Rd.,” she said. “We have an opportunity for a bypass of the Bluff. But it should be the most beneficial route and not based largely on personal comments. We need to chose the option that will benefit us now and the generations to come.”

Smith said motorists already have the option to travel to the west side of La Grange via FM 2436 and FM 609 through Hostyn.

“Option 3 includes another bridge over the Colorado River,” she said. “It would allow gravel trucks and anyone south of La Grange, including Weimar and Frish Auf, to enter the Bypass from FM 155 and Loehr Rd.”

Ken Dernehl, who lives north of La Grange, spoke against the Creamer Creek bypass as well.

“I’m kind of at odds here with why they want to spend $200-plus million on a bypass when we already technically have a bypass from FM 2436 to FM 609,” he said. “If they had to widen FM 609 to four lanes to Business 71, it would be a lot cheaper than that. I don’t own any land in the area and don’t know anyone who does. I’m just thinking about this as a private citizen. I hope y’all vote against the resolution supporting that.”

Dernehl also spoke against the effort by Apex Clean Energy to build a wind farm south of La Grange. He urged the City Council to oppose the wind farm development.

“I’m a member of the group FayCo Says No, and we’re opposed to it,” he said. “It’s going to be bad for the City, the County, and it’s going to hurt tourism. It’ll affect property values. We’ve had a really good response from people opposing it. What I’m asking the Council to do is to consider a resolution opposing it. Just like the Bypass, it’s not in the City, either. It would carry no legal authority, but it would send a message to the companies that want to do.”