LONGVIEWGREGG COUNTY (KYTX) - Bette Best lives along Highway 300 in East Mountain.
Her house might be in the path of the East Texas Hourglass. It's a road that's been planned for more than a decade. It will connect U.S. 59 in Harrison County, with Toll 49 in South Tyler, crossing Gregg and Upshur counties.
"I go to the mall quite often in Tyler," Best said. "I have friends in Tyler, and it would be nice to just jump on the toll way and one straight shot."
Most of the proposed route is farm and ranch land. But as development from Longview moves north, Gregg County Judge Bill Stoudt believes tax reinvestment zones could help make the road possible in the next decade.
"There could be some additional financing from that bond money that was issued about two or three years ago that might be able to leverage to make this happen sooner rather than later," Stoudt said. "We just got $1.5 million awarded this past year to the RMA to move forward with the environmental study to determine where the exact route is going to go."
A new road would likely bring more noise and development to Bette's front door, but she says she already has that living along Texas 300.
"A tollway, I mean, it's progress," Best said.
