Neighbors Speak Out Over Giant Pile of Dirt in Farmers Branch

Neighbors in Farmers Branch are complaining of dust from a giant dirt pile beside homes along Interstate 635 LBJ Freeway that they say is making residents sick.

Over the past year, the dirt from the LBJ East road construction project was placed on the 22 acres of state-owned land along the freeway. The dirt is to be used as fill for the Interstate 35E Phase 2 project in Farmers Branch and Carrollton.

Earlier this year neighbors were told the pile would be gone by the end of 2022. Now they’re told it will be at least another year.

They planned to sound off at a Farmers Branch City Council Meeting on Tuesday night, where people from the Texas Department of Transportation and the project contractor were due to provide a report.

“It should never have been put behind a neighborhood. It’s not just my neighborhood, it's neighborhoods this way, that way, they get hit with it as well. They’re having the same issues,” resident Amanda Garza said.

Dust flies as trucks rumble in and out of the site, but Garza said dust has been flying from the top of the pile too and through her home all year.

She said she became more alarmed recently when she saw the filth coating her furnace filter.

“When I saw the AC filter, that's when it clicked in my mind. This is all connected. The allergies, the asthma, the everything. It just was like a light bulb,” Garza said.

She said her desire to rally neighbors against the pile also increased after a meeting held at her home last month with neighbors, the contractor and state officials.

Residents were told plans to remove the pile by the end of 2022 were extended for another year.

Travis Kralicke, the project deputy director for contractor Lone Star Constructors, was forbidden by TxDOT from giving an on-camera interview to NBC 5.

By phone, he said the site is the ideal storage location between the two road projects for dirt storage.

He said it was a saving to taxpayers to use the only state-owned land available in such a prime location.

Garza said the location is not ideal for residents.

“Hello, there's a neighborhood all around it. It's the entrance to our city. It looks horrible,” she said. “That is not a solution. Lowering it, they're just creating more dust for us now.”

By email Kralicke provided additional information about actions taken in response to neighbor complaints:

“Dust mitigation efforts began immediately after placement of the stockpile with periodic watering. Since receiving feedback from the adjacent residents, we have increased the frequency of the watering as well as installed a sprinkler system to further mitigate and control dust. Also, based upon the feedback from the community, we have begun to haul the material from the stockpile to the project site,” the email said.

But Kralicke said there will not be sufficient space at the new project location for all of that dirt until late 2023.

Kralicke and state transportation officials were to provide a report on the project to the Farmers Branch City Council Tuesday night.

Garza and other neighbors say a large group of them intend to sound off. They want the dirt pile removed now.

The LBJ East project where the dirt came from is due for completion in 2024.

The I-35 Phase 2 project where the dirt is to be taken is not due for completion until 2025.