Arcola city council member Tom Hilton is no more convinced now than before the city’s mayor received a letter from the Federal Aviation Administration saying Houston Southwest Airport is in compliance with FAA rules and McKeever Road is no problem.

Hilton maintains that proposed changes to South Post Oak and McKeever puts more people in danger because more people will be traveling the highways flanked by the airport runway.

“We heard back from the FAA, which claimed that the dimensions for the threshold siting surface (TSS) have changed since 2004, and that the runway safety area now fits entirely inside the airport property. They also state that McKeever and vehicles traveling on McKeever do not penetrate the TSS. However, they go on to say that they don’t have a problem with the road improvement project as long as there is a DISPLACED THRESHOLD AS REQUIRED. Question: Why do you need to displace the threshold if the TSS is not being penetrated?” Hilton questioned.

Fort Bend County is planning to do improvements to McKeever Road and has begun the process of tree removal on the right of way along McKeever. The city of Arcola, which has a portion of the road in their city limits, has not cooperated with the county in the effort to redo the roadway. The whole crust of the dissension is the airport. The county says it will do the portion of the road that lies in the county and abandon the idea of improvements to the city section if some resolution is not made soon.