The name “Ray Roberts Parkway” now unites several Ranch Cities along U.S. 377.
As the area continues to grow rapidly, the idea of changing the signage along U.S. 377 was sparked by a conversation between Aubrey Mayor Chris Rich and developers.
“The goal was for uniformity,” Rich said. “If you're driving through the area or up 377, that we were all on the same page.”
Before the idea, Tioga had already renamed its stretch of U.S. 377 to Ray Roberts Parkway, so Rich contacted the neighboring cities.
“I reached out to the mayors of the other cities along the corridor in advance to make sure that we had some legs before we pursued
Kisca Crowe/The Post-Signal it,” Rich said. “I don't want to waste a bunch of time trying to pursue this if no one else was interested in doing it, and initially, everyone was on board. That changed later with one city specifically, but everybody else stayed on board.”
With support from the surrounding municipalities of Krugerville, Pilot Point and Collinsville, the cities soon added the name change to their council agendas for approval.
“The goal was for regional identification,” Rich said. “… Ray Roberts Parkway is the same road all the way through from end to end. There's no confusion. … It could have the potential for commercial attraction.”
When Krugerville Mayor Rodney Cagle heard the pitch several months back, he thought it was a great idea.
“I love anything that attracts the landmark that we have out near us, whether you're coming from the north, the south or the west,” Cagle said. “A lot of people come to this area for Lake Ray Roberts. They come and eat at the restaurants in all these towns. They shop. They go to the gas stations, the grocery stores. It was kind of easy as far as to get on board with it. We had no reason to stand alone on our halfmile stretch. There was no reason to try to be separate. It was definitely a better choice to work together.”
The Krugerville City Council approved the resolution to change Krugerville's signage along U.S. 377 to Ray Roberts Parkway during the April 22 council meeting.
“The way TxDOT works, it won't replace U.S. 377,” Cagle shared. “The addresses that say US-377 can remain with that. It's more of a designation so that you'll have an additional name to it. It will never leave [the] U.S. 377 name. But when you go through these municipalities, you'll have it labeled as Ray Roberts Parkway now.”
Another key aspect of the signage change is the economic impact it could have across the municipalities.
“The businesses that come, they can choose to use either address at that point,” Cagle said. “That gives them the opportunity to use that as an attraction piece. ‘Hey, we're going to Lake Ray Roberts this weekend.’ You look on there, and ‘Hey, there's a restaurant on Ray Roberts Parkway.’ They'll know that they're near their lake, and they won't think twice to stop in that area.”
He thanked those involved in the process that helped to solidify the change.
“I'm just glad that the Krugerville council unanimously supported that,” Cagle said. “That was a good thing. Everybody that I know of between the three councils, it was all unanimous, so I like to see everybody working together.”
Continuing up north before reaching Tioga is the city of Pilot Point, which approved the ordinance at its April 9 council meeting and also approved a change to the signage along FM 455 to G.A. Moore Parkway, in commemoration of the beloved football coach who passed away last year.
After the item was approved, Mayor Chad Major learned an interesting tidbit from Pilot Point Fire Chief Heath Hudson.
“I've since discovered, after talking to our fire chief, that they utilized that in the 911 dispatch system to identify the road rather than 377, and that our fire had actually been using Tioga's reference to Ray Roberts Parkway when they send and dispatch fire,” Major said. “… It actually helped them to identify which segment of the road and everything like that.”
He added that he was glad to see the agenda item pass to keep the highway consistent and to pay homage to Denton Congressman Ray Roberts, the lake’s namesake.
