Princeton family welcomes Highway 380 expansion — but it’s costing them their home

From KERA News:

Michaelle Ray stands outside the house she grew up in on the outskirts of Princeton, about 10 minutes east of McKinney.

The house is part of a group of homes that her family calls “the compound.” Her mom, aunt and brother all live here. Their street was even named after her family’s maiden name — Biggs Road.

Ray lived on this property for over 40 years. That is, until the state forced her to sell her land to make room for a highway expansion.

The Highway 380 extension project will expand the existing road that crosses east to west through Collin County, turning the small four-lane state highway into an eight-to-ten lane freeway. The current highway runs south of the Biggs property, but the new highway will run directly through it.

After Ray sold her home, she moved into a new house east of Princeton. But, she said it doesn’t feel right living outside the compound.

“It’s odd,” she said. “It feels weird to me now, just because, I don’t live here, you know?”

Highway 380’s construction is part of a long-term plan to respond to Collin County’s rapid growth. Princeton alone has grown by almost 92% since 2020, according to the latest population estimates by the Texas Demographic Center.

Officials at the Texas Department of Transportation have told KERA the highway will cut down on congestion through the town.

“We’re in the really, really early stages,” said Madison Schein with TXDoT. “So if everything in the stars were to align, the earliest would be 2027, that we could start construction.”

Ray and other Princeton residents have known for years that the highway is going to be built. TXDoT has been keeping the city informed on the progress, but it hasn’t always been a smooth process.

“We understand it’s a huge project, so there’s a lot that moves into that, and we understand all of that,” said Princeton Mayor Brianna Chacon. “If I’m being completely honest, it’s been very frustrating, simply because the project’s not funded.”

In the meantime, the Princeton City Council recently put a temporary hold on all new developments. Chacon said that’s how the city is dealing with growth a little differently.

TXDoT estimates the highway will cost around $979.2 million, but the department hasn’t yet secured that funding — and residents are anxious to see the new highway get built.

“When people say ‘I got to go to 380,’ it’s kind of looked at as a curse word. It’s just that bad,” said Duane Kelly, who has lived in Princeton for almost five years. “We hate driving on 380. We’d do anything to avoid it.”

Kelly said the city’s current infrastructure isn’t meant to handle the number of people moving in.

“I think they need to get to it and quit waiting around,” he said.

Michaelle Ray, now at her new home, said she’s not against the new highway. In fact, she hopes it’ll be safer for other residents.

“We’ve lost too many friends on the current 380 since we’ve been in Princeton, and I didn’t feel like it was appropriate to slow it down,” she said.

Ray and her family aren’t the only ones who had to move for the project, but TXDoT officials say they’ve tried to minimize displacements.

Ray said she doesn’t know when the rest of her family has to move out of the compound — or where they’ll go. Her family was told that once the eminent domain process begins, they’ll have 90 days to leave and find another home.

But, Ray said, the compound she grew up in is something that can’t be replicated.

“A lot of people that we care about are there,” she said. “Our pet cemetery is huge, and it’s sad to us.”

For now, she’s starting anew while grieving her old home.

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