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Community member speaks -
Big Thicket roadway
After hearing from a Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) district engineer, Big Thicket environmental group representatives and private citizens, the Hardin County Commissioners tabled action on a resolution to intervene for the second time this month at their Nov. 22 meeting.
The proposed resolution supports the retention of trees for a TxDOT highway expansion project on U.S. 69. It was requested by Ellen Buchanan and Mary Bernard, members of the Big Thicket Association.
Environmental groups oppose the removal of trees in the median of an 8-mile, four-lane stretch of U.S. 69. Buchanan said TxDOT plans to cut the trees up to the streamline, which would cause erosion and more flooding.
“The trees and forest, that’s our culture. Forest and water are our culture in Hardin County, and have been the lifeblood of Hardin County,” Buchanan said. “TxDOT’s mission, vision, values and goals incorporate public input and natural resources into their plans.”
According to Buchanan, after working with TxDOT for five years on the expansion, communication was cut off about a year ago and the public was not included in a new plan with the forested median between FM 1003 to Warren “going to be clear cut.” The environmental coalition’s concern is TxDOT will clear cut up to the streamline, which will cause erosion and more flooding.
Buchanan said the coalitions want a safe highway and evacuation route for storms, but also want to protect the culture and the natural resources in Hardin and Tyler counties.
County Judge Wayne McDaniel said TxDOT District Engineer Martin Gonzalez pointed out some issues with the resolution. Gonzalez noted the project would take the existing U.S. 69 two-lane highway and expand it to four lanes with a divided median, along with adding some evacuation lanes or wider shoulders.
He noted no property from the preserve was used and TxDOT has not purchased any property for this project.
“Everything we are doing is staying within TxDOT right-of-way. The trees we are removing are all within TxDOT’s property,” Gonzalez said.
He said TxDOT has not been presented with data that the removal of 13 acres of trees or the design will affect the hydrology, and the project’s consultant stated the project would increase the capacity of ditches and lower the velocity of the water.
“The water going into the streams will be greatly reduced,” he added.
Highway safety concerns
Gonzalez said TxDOT has been tasked by the state’s Transportation Commission to have zero highway fatalities by 2050 and they are doing everything possible to improve our clear zones to help mitigate some of those issues we see on our roadways.
Gonzales said, between 2018 and 2020, 19% of all rural fatalities nationwide involved trees.
Pct. 4 Commissioner Alvin Roberts asked Gonzalez about the safety factor concerning the trees. Roberts, a former Hardin County Sheriff’s deputy, said he doesn’t remember a lot of fatalities on U.S. 69 between FM 1003 and the Hardin-Tyler County line. He asked Gonzalez if TxDOT has any data on accidents on that portion of the highway.
Gonzales said district-wide (Jefferson, Hardin, Tyler, Orange, Newton, Liberty, Jasper and Chamber counties) since 2017 there have been 1,398 crashes, 39 fatalities and 103 serious injuries involving trees, scrubs or landscaping.
Gonzales said, in the Big Thicket Corridor (U.S. 69/96 split in Lumberton to the Angelina County line), there have been 78 crashes, two fatalities and eight serious injuries since 2017.
“If there haven’t been any accidents in this area, why would trees be a safety factor?” Roberts asked.
“Within the limits of this project, we’ve had five serious injuries from hitting trees since 2017,” replied Gonzalez.
He said drivers have a “behavior issue” and that drivers need to avoid using their cellphones or not driving under the influence and to wear their seatbelts.
According to requested data by The Examiner, TxDOT released the information on Nov. 30. In 2021 there were 23 crashes on U.S. 69/287 between FM 1003 and FM 1943 resulting in two deaths, both in Tyler County. In the same stretch of the highway, 11 crashes were reported in Hardin County and 12 reported in Tyler County.
Roberts asked Gonzalez if barriers will be installed in the median.
“Where the median is wide enough, we don’t have to provide a median barrier” Gonzalez answered. “The ones where it narrows down, we will have to provide a barrier,” said Gonzalez.
Gonzalez said the proposed median, in some cases, will run along the existing U.S. 69 roadbed.
“The original alignment has never changed,” said Gonzalez, adding that the original renderings or drawings of the project should have never been shown to the public.
“The median on day one will be nothing but grass because it’s going to be in the middle of what is currently U.S. 69. “As this design was done from the beginning, I have not changed the alignment whatsoever on this project. The only direction I gave my staff is that we were removing the trees from the median.”
Gonzalez said there is no way there can be any trees in the median.
“There’s not really a whole lot of trees there now,” he added. “Where it shows some (trees) what they are trying to conserve or utilize, as this project goes in the eight miles of construction, at some points the proposed median will be the existing U.S. 69.”
“I do enjoy the tree while driving,” Pct. 3 Commissioner Amanda Young said. “If there was a drunk driver or a driver texting or doing something else that was coming through the median, I’d rather them hit a tree and not my family.”
Buchanan asked TxDOT to look at the trees planted at the Lumberton Y. “If trees are an issue, why were they planted with trees?” she asked.
Buchanan noted on Loop 99 in Houston, TxDOT is planting trees.
“They’re planting trees on 59; they’re planting trees on 45,” she added.
Public comments
Christy Brown, a county resident for more than 30 years, said she’s seen the destruction of the native forest and it’s “heartbreaking.”
“Trees are monuments. We don’t need a (concrete) monument,” she said. “Once the trees are raped off the land, they can not be replaced.”
Terry Sulley, president of Southeast Texas Clean Air and Water Inc., said the virtual meeting “didn’t get the job done.”
“Those in-person meetings that took place over 5-6 years lacked information that others didn’t know about until today,” he said. “I would encourage those meetings to return with the coalition and TxDOT, in person and at a table somewhere.”
Sour Lake resident Teresa Attaway Dumphy said TxDOT stated it was their jurisdiction, but she said, “It’s our jurisdiction.”
“We do have a say and we should have a say,” Dumphy added. “Why would you take beautiful trees to plant other trees? That just makes no sense whatsoever.”
Erika Pelletier, associate director for Texas and Oklahoma for the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), said her group worked with the Beaumont District of TxDOT for a plan for the U.S. 69 expansion that created safety for the community and protected the Big Thicket. She said almost 300,000 people visit the Big Thicket each year.
Pelletier noted NPCA is concerned about the lack of environmental review on the impact of the proposed changes, the negative impacts of the proposed clear-cutting, and the process and limited opportunity for public comment on the proposed new changes.
Pelletier added NPCA requests a new environmental assessment (EA) or, at the least, be supplemented. They also request that TxDOT explore other options to enhance safety rather than the proposed clear-cutting.
In a letter sent by the NPCA to TxDOT, the group points out that page one of TxDOT’s own Road Design Manual states that: “Various environmental impacts can be mitigated or eliminated using appropriate design practices. The result of the application of this manual should result in projects which provide user safety and operational efficiency while considering the environmental quality.
By using a metal guard fence or guardrail, TxDOT could meet the goal of reducing fatalities and meeting the environmental expectations previously expressed to the public. Mature tree growth in the median creates a green curtain along the roadway. This limits the driver’s peripheral vision promoting more focus on the roadway ahead. A median with timber discourages median crossings except where planned. Trees in the median and along the shoulders help reduce glare in the early and late hours of the day, the most frequent time for accidents. By using the alternative methods mentioned above, TxDOT could meet their safety requirements to reduce driver fatalities along Texas highways.”
Ninety-three-year-old Maxine Johnson, a former president of the Big Thicket Association, said the Big Thicket Parkway was made possible by former State Rep. Jim Turner in October 2000.
She noted more than 290,000 annual visitors spent more than $20 million locally.
“The Big Thicket Parkway serves to attract visitors to visit the Big Thick National Preserve and a loss of 145 acres of trees could result in the loss of some visitors,” Johnson added.
Environmental concerns
Buchanan said TxDOT wants to install V-shape ditches, which would effect drainage. She noted the water needs to be “slowed down” going into Village Creek and the Neches River.
“Having your trees, your native vegetation in the Big Thicket and the floodplain, that’s what slows that water down,” Buchanan explained. “The faster the water gets to Beaumont, the more problems with Village Creek and Pine Island Bayou because they are backed up by water from the Neches River.”
Buchanan said, as far as she knows, TxDOT has not reported back to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for mitigation. “They need an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) and we’re going to be working on that. They need to come back and do an EIS on the project for the environment,” she remarked.
Gonzalez noted environmental division director discussion revealed no need to do a reassessment of any impacts with regards to what is proposed for removing the trees.
“We are still within our permit regardless,” Gonzalez said. “We have informed the public. We tried to do meetings with different stakeholders individually, and we also did a virtual construction update meeting that was opened up for comments.”
Buchanan said the coalition supports TxDOT’s hike and bike trail but Gonzalez noted that 46 acres of trees will be removed for the trail.
Removing gas line
Kountze City Administrator Rob Hutto said more support is needed from the federal and state officials who represent the county. He said the city has to remove a gas line unless TxDOT is going to remove it for free.
“From a meeting two years ago, they have changed this on us numerous times. We had one conflict in the first assessment, then they came back and said we have seven conflicts; then they said we had 10 conflicts;” said Hutto. “They said we had to apply for funds to remove our gas line but never told us what part we had to remove so we could apply for funds because we didn’t know how much it would cost us.”
He said TxDOT came back and told the city there were going to be seven monuments put in the median and the trees would remain.
“They told us that so we’d know where to move our gas line,” Hutto said. “Now we’re suddenly told they’re going to clear the whole thing.”
He said Kountze officials have been to several meetings and that no one said anything about the county or the city putting in any funds for the project.
“The last we heard is that the monument was going to be put in and we would have to reroute our gas line around those monuments,” added Hutto. “We’re hamstrung here. We applied for a 2021-2025 grant to maybe help with the funding of the project but we still don’t know how much project we have to pay for. We’ve got to get engineers involved and they can’t get involved if they don’t know about the project.”
Hutto added if the city doesn’t get funding to move its gas line, “It won’t get moved.”
Gonzalez responded that he was surprised to hear that the monuments are going to be in the median.
“The monuments are not going in the median,” he said. “From a safety standpoint, it would do the opposite of what were trying to accomplish. We removed the monuments because they were initially proposed in an unsafe location.”
He said one monument could be placed in a safe location so that motorists would stop and take a photograph.
Gonzalez also said the Kountze gas line is located in the first three miles of the project; “When we remove the trees, this gas line is, in some cases, is about three inches from the top. It’s built up and it’s actually laying on top and it’s a safety hazard. If we remove all the trees, at that point, it becomes a concern. We understand the position the city would be in.”
He noted staff from years ago, not knowing what TxDOT can and can not do as an organization, worked with the public to make sure they had “all their ducks in a row” to set up a project acceptable for everyone.
“That’s what we are trying to do now,” said Gonzalez.
Resolution tabled
Pct. 2 Commissioner Chris Kirkendall said he motioned for the resolution to be tabled because he felt there was “good discussion” and that TxDOT is willing to work with native vegetation.
“It sounds like they (TxDOT) had an in-depth hydrology report done that’s probably not going to change and it sounds like they are ready to proceed with construction,” he said.
Kirkendall added the TxDOT architects were “misleading” in the previous meetings he attended.
“What’s coming out today was not presented from months-long and years-long communication between the engineers, designers and the interested parties,” he said.
Pct. 1 L.W. “Nubbin” Cooper Jr. said he would not support the resolution. Cooper noted he was chair of the Transportation Committee for South East Texas Regional Planning Commission (SETRPC) during the process of the project. He said there were numerous meetings with the public.
“TxDOT has gone far and beyond, in my opinion, in notifying the public in what’s going to happen and their procedure how they’re going to do this,” he added.
Kirkendall said he sat in several meetings and the project was presented as the “Gateway to the Big Thicket,” which may have confused some people.
Kirkendall said, from the meetings, the concerns of the associations were “affirmed.” He asked Gonzalez if was it “too late” to look at non-native vegetation being replaced with native vegetation of the Big Thicket.
Rachel Iglesias, regional director of communication relations for Congressman Brian Babin, said the elected official is in full support of the people and their desire to have studies done for mitigation.
“He also has asked TxDOT, personally, to have some studies provided. They provided information; however, it showed there are no deaths in that stretch and it was a hydrologic study showing the funnel of potential runoff through the drain. So it was not hydrology or hydrological studies, but a hydraulic study,” she said. “The congressman is in support of the people and you’re (county) decision to back the resolution.”
Remotely, District 18 State Rep. Ernest Bailes (R-Shepherd) told the court and audience he hopes for “a bridge between conservation and safety.” Bailes said he would support the county’s decision going forward.
Kirkendall added State Senator Robert Nichols supports TxDOT, but not the resolution.
The entire meeting can be viewed online at www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMRpGhloU-0