Residents worried about their homes during proposed Toll 49 expansion

SMITH COUNTY, Texas (KLTV) - Toll 49 is a very heavily traveled road in east Texas, and it brings in a significant amount of traffic. It’s 32 miles long now but expected to get even longer.

And some East Texans say that growth may be something to worry about in the near future.

“I’ve spent a lot of my retirement money to build this home just a year and a half ago and if they come here and take this, then I have just lost a lot of that,” Smith County resident John Ashcraft says.

John Ashcraft put $80,000 of his retirement money into his home he planned on growing old in.

“My main concern is all of us losing our homes and property. I care about my neighbors and I care about myself,” Ashcraft says. Ashcraft lives near County Road 285 in Smith County.

You can find his property on a proposed map that the Northeast Texas Regional Mobile Authority drew up.

6 lines are a potential route for a proposed extension of Toll 49 north to U.S. 271.

Ashcraft and his neighbors would be affected by the blue and orange lines.

“I don’t feel like the blue route is the best route, I think it’s the longest route, I think it’s going to cost a lot more money for this route, there are a lot of flood lands out here against lake Tyler, if the blue route is chosen its going to cost a lot more money to build bridge,” Ashcraft says.

NET R.M.A says they will prepare an environmental study to document potential impacts on the humans potentially affected as well as the wildlife.

NET R.M.A is giving the public an opportunity to express and opinions or concerns through an online survey, https://docs.google.com/…/1faipqlsfvssffc6tj6ga_pb…/viewform

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