AMA stands for “Ask Michael Anything,” and is a chance for readers to ask reporter Michael V. Hannigan questions about Henderson County. Ask questions through our Facebook Page or our website.
QUESTION: Reader Mark Mills asked if the state is ever going to finish Loop 7 around Athens, making it four lanes all the way around.
SOURCES: Texas Department of Transportation Public Information Officer Larry Krantz.
ANSWER: Possibly, but not anytime soon.
Krantz said that there is room for Loop 7 to be expanded, and added that the state even has the right-of-way needed. But there are no projects presently planned for the loop.
The problem is money … there’s just not enough for the state’s transportation needs. State Sen. Robert Nichols, who represents Henderson County, is the chairman of the Transportation Committee this session. In published reports, he said:
“(The) Current (funding) system can no longer maintain the system. At a time when we need new capacity, our urban areas are choking down, we have no traditional funds for new capacity and at the same time, we don’t have the traditional funds to maintain our system. For the past ten or twelve years we’ve been riding on a bubble of debt… and now it’s time to pay the piper. “
So until the state can figure out how to fix the infrastructure that’s falling apart, roads that are doing OK — like Loop 7 — will be waaaay on the back burner.