Right-of-way purchases for the highway expansion along U.S. Highway 82 are underway and moving smoothly according to officials with the Texas Department of Transportation, as the bid letting has been moved from January 2021 to June 2021.
During recent weeks appraisers, surveyors and purchase agents have been working in Montague County to negotiate ROW needed for phase one of the highway expansion which runs from the Nocona city limits west to Farm-to-Market Road 1816.
Shawn Barnes, project director with TxDOT, said they are looking at about 75 parcels of land between Ringgold and Nocona in that phase. He added the process is going well with no big stumbling blocks.
County residents may be hesitant to believe this project is moving forward after it has been on hold 48 years. The four-lane divided highway was completed from Cooke County to Nocona in 1972. There were plans for it to continue west to Clay County, but the project was put on hold.
Through the years state highway officials and legislators promised the 24.7 mile section would be completed, but even with strong advocacy from Nocona and Montague County it never appeared back on the state schedule.

Read the full story in the weekend Bowie News.