‘Prisoners in our own homes’: New traffic rules aim to ease Lancium construction impact

ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) — Many Abilene residents live on the northwest side of town for the quiet life, riding horses on county roads or riding bikes with their families. However, life took a big turn when construction for the Lancium Project began, bringing significant truck traffic. While this has been going on for a while now, residents stress that it was only in recent months that things became even worse.

The Taylor County Commissioners Court conducted a public hearing on Tuesday, March 11, to address resident concerns. During the meeting, they considered approving the installation of “No Thru Trucks” signage on Farris, Spinks, Hayter, Summerhill, and Shirley Roads. Additionally, they discussed setting the speed limit to 45 mph on County Roads 405 and 644.

Cheryl Davis, a longtime resident of Spinks Road, lives near the entrance where trucks frequently enter and exit Lancium. She mentioned that at times, she has to wait for these trucks to clear the way before she can drive to her next destination. As a real estate broker, she expressed concerns that property values may drop due to the ongoing construction.

Her recently widowed mother, who also has a house in the area, is moving in with her. Since October, she has been trying to sell her home, but two sales fell through. She believes this is due to the public’s unawareness of the future developments in the area.

“I’ve had two sales fall through because nobody wants to buy this beautiful home that has one of the prettiest views of Abilene you’ve ever seen because they don’t know what’s going on out here. They see the trucks go up and down the road. They don’t know what’s going to be built across the road. So now the money that I was counting on to be able to help support my mother in her old age, who’s worked her whole life for, I have a house I can’t sell,” explained Davis.

Davis is one of many residents speaking out against the negative changes construction has caused.

“People used to ride their horses, they ride bikes. Our way of life has stopped completely. So, we kind of feel like prisoners in our own homes,” added Davis.

Other residents worry that the large trucks have caused potholes, damaged private property, created traffic, and more. Taylor County Commissioner Precinct 2 Kyle Kendrick represents, lives, and works in the area himself.

“I run a bunch of cattle and farm, and I travel those county roads and see it on a firsthand basis every single day, just other than my day job. So, I understand what they’re going through,” added Kendrick.

He immediately took action to find a solution after multiple residents contacted him and other court members. He was happy to see a large turnout at the meeting.

”It’s a great feeling to have the support of the community behind you because they’re the ones who elect you to do this job. All along it’s been nothing but about public safety. That’s what I’m here to do, is to provide the best public safety and county roads for the citizens that live in my precinct. So, this all started about a year ago. We had trucks starting to run and set the speed limit at 45 miles an hour in an effort to try to slow the trucks down and to make things safer,” shared Kendrick.

Kendrick reported that one resident said they observed more than 72 trucks passing in front of their home on a very narrow street within a span of just 12 hours. He emphasized that this is only one example of how significantly traffic has changed. As a result, the commissioners have approved the proposed changes, with the new rules set to take effect on Saturday, March 15th.

Lancium’s vice president of project and site management, Jason Marshall, traveled from Houston to attend the meeting and address resident concerns.

“I’ll reiterate, projects are temporary endeavors, right? So, we don’t anticipate that this is your life for the rest of your life. But we’re in the business of getting this done as fast as possible, as fast as possible. So, we’ll continue down that path,” added Marshall.

Commissioner Kendrick hopes this change can continue the friendly neighbor relationship with Lancium and make the area safer for residents. Lancium is set to begin construction in three weeks to construct a road for their trucks to use.