Take a look at US Highway 190 as it runs through my part of Central Texas.
The stretch of 190 that runs Lampasas -> Kempner -> Copperas Cove -> Fort Hood -> Killeen -> Harker Heights -> Nolanville -> Belton is the main through way for this area, merging into other roadways in Lampasas and Belton while still being considered separate from them (it's complicated).
When 190 was first run through Copperas Cove, it was just a two-lane highway. This allowed for a buffer zone between the road itself and the mix of businesses and homes that sprang up along it. As time went on, however, the road had to be widened to handle additional traffic. In the western half of town it's two lanes each way plus a center median, while in the eastern half it's three lanes each way plus a center median.
This meant that the highway was now abutting the actual boundaries of the businesses and properties, but with more traffic coming through town this was no longer enough. So, the decision was made to set up a northern bypass (which would run from the eastern edge of town to North Farm-To-Market Road 116, which connects Copperas Cove to Gatesville via Pidcoke) and a southern bypass (which would run around the entire southern part of town).
This southern bypass is... an absolute disaster. For starters, when it was discovered that the bypass would have to cross Farm-To-Market Road 2657 (which connects Cove to Burnett),
the decision was made that instead of integrating the bypass into FM 2657, the entire intersection of 190 and 2657 would be altered instead. The original intersection had 2657 meeting 190 at a proper T intersection, with 190 continuing onward. Now, the bypass would be what fed into the part of 190 going westward, while the portion of 190 that ran through town would be fed into the top part of 2657.
As if that wasn't bad enough, putting the bypass through required the demolition of a church and a one-time industrial site, both of which were on South FM 116. Furthermore, even with the demolition of these two sites, the road would still have to cut through two hills
and span a small gap over a small valley owned by a local farmer.
Oh, and the bypass... is only a single lane of traffic each way, with no median. So heavy trucks that have oversized loads must still go directly through the middle of town and navigate the messed-up intersection where 190 and everything else connects on the western side of town.
When the US government decided to do the "Forts to Ports" system to make it easier for military bases to get their people and equipment to harbors, the plan was for the length of 190 from Lampasas to Belton to be re-designated as Interstate 14 while also retaining the old US 190 moniker.
...Except the plan for I-14 has the
bypass as part of the route, which is a major no-no as the bypass doesn't meet the minimum standards to be rated as an interstate while the portion that runs through down does. So I-14 doesn't actually run through Cove, Kempner, or Lampasas, and cannot until such time as the bypass is widened... which will involve cutting even more out of the hills (including the decorative retaining walls) and tearing the bridge down because its design is such it can't be widened.
It's a disaster of epic proportions, and our taxpayer dollars are being spent to fix it.
Oh, and it gets
even worse yet.
Because the portion of 190 through Copperas Cove is no longer designated as a main highway but rather a "business" highway, the city council convinced the state to grant them the money
to tear up the median on the eastern half of town and replace it with planters.
The openings they propose for traffic to filter through are so narrow that you won't even be able to get a fire engine or semi truck through them, and by forcing all traffic in the city to use these narrow openings they've almost guaranteed that the number of head-on collisions is going to skyrocket. But even when certified heavy vehicle operators warned them of this, they refused to listen.
So yeah... this community is about to get torn apart - and people likely killed - because of modern-day urban planners who don't know what they're doing and won't listen to the public.
Never underestimate the part played by human stupidity in all of this.