Forney is a town on the move. Literally. Even those of us who live in the city have to drive to get anywhere we want to go. Nothing is in walking distance. That is okay. As residents of Dallas-Fort Worth we are well accustomed to driving every where we go.
Guest and Gray Law Firm, P.C. has called Forney, Texas home for decades. Scott Gray and his father, Don Gray, served Forney for decades before joining forces with Robert Guest to become Guest and Gray in 2011. Most of our staff and several of our attorneys, including the author of this article, grew up in the Forney and Kaufman county areas (the author is from Crandall. Don’t hold that against me) and we have seen the exponential growth that is happening in our city and our county. Here is looking at you Terrell and Crandall.
What I have notice, just in the past year, is that if I fail to drive on one side of town for a while, when I finally do, there is a new neighborhood where a piece of land once stood. For instance, that I-20 corridor near FM 1641. There is a new neighborhood over there that I didn’t notice for about 6 months. I came back from court that way one day and BAM, there is a neighborhood off to the left. An entire neighborhood. Well, howdy new neighbors.
In 2018, we have welcomed lots of new businesses to the area, especially in the old downtown area, with Eno’s and Latham Bakery. Bush’s Chicken is here and now we are getting a Raising Canes. In the industrial business, Forney is getting a Goodyear distribution center that will add 160 local jobs to the Forney area. That same article cited lists Forney as the “fastest growing residential construction market in North Texas”. That is big considering Forney is competing with some of the fastest growing cities in America such as Frisco, McKinney, Prosper and the like, and the construction does not seem to be slowing down at all.
SO, WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN FOR FORNEY
Forney, over the next decade, is going to struggle with traffic and congestion on its roadways. Our city simply was not designed for the type of growth that it is currently experiencing. Very few cities in Texas are, for that matter. Why? Because Forney, for the longest time, was a small, mostly rural suburb of Dallas that thrived on agricultural business. Most of our city streets and county roads were placed decades before residential growth was even a thought. This means that the city is going to struggle in its preparation to get the city ready for the expansion.
Forney is already seeing the traffic problems noted in this article. Trying to drive down FM 740 or 548 in afternoon can be a real struggle. The areas around the Wal Mart are always congested and the don’t even get me started on the Highway 80 morning drive and afternoon commute. That is an article all unto itself. With Forney’s population growing at an increasing rate each year, the traffic problems are only going to increase.
What this will lead to, and is already leading to, is an increase in injury accidents. In 2018 we saw an uptick in traffic accidents and pedestrian accidents in Forney. We also saw an increase in commercial accidents in and around the Forney area due to the increased commercial traffic along I-20 and Highway 80.
Now, Guest and Gray cannot solve the city’s traffic problems and we assure the community that we know the city is working on a plan to help ease the community’s traffic issues, what Guest and Gray stands to do for the community is to serve the needs of our injured residents. Every year, hundreds of our local Forney residents are injured in automobile, motorcycle and commercial vehicle/18-wheeler accidents. When a local Forney resident is injured in an accident and it is not their fault, Guest and Gray will be here to help them obtain the compensation they deserve for their injuries.
