Did anyone catch this article in today’s Dallas Morning News? It discusses the new “Outer Loop Highway” that will connect I-35 in Denton County to I-20 in Kaufman County. It mainly focuses on Rockwall County, and specifically, Fate and Royse City, but it has some interesting implications for Forney.

Unfortunately, the graphic that was printed in the paper showing the proposed route through Rockwall County isn’t available online, apparently. Originally, at least in Rockwall County, the proposed route took the highway down 548; they’ve changed that in Rockwall County, but the new proposed route enters Kaufman County right along 548, so it looks like in order to connect to I-20, the highway would have to either follow 548 or go through one of the communities just to the east or west of 548 - Windmill Farms or the community on the west side of 548. Considering FISD has purchased land for a school just east of 548, my guess is, it would follow 548 rather than cut through one of the existing developments.

The article does mention that this could be decades away…however, with this highway being discussed, and with Sunnyvale pushing for the extension of the George Bush Turnpike to be as far east as possible to keep it out of Sunnyvale, Forney is looking at having two major highways in or near its borders, in addition to the existing two, Highway 80 and Interstate 20.

For those of you unfamiliar with the area, Highway 80 at FM-548 is an area of major development in Forney right now; there are several large communities centered around there, and there are countless new retail and restaurant developments opening or being built there right now. This intersection is where Lowe’s and WalMart both have stores in Forney, so it’s already a major focal point of development; add this new highway to the mix, and this area could really take off.

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