(Part one in a series on growth and changes around the campuses.)

Acres upon acres of cornfields and a few houses, so few that no toes-only fingers-would be necessary to count them all, were the only things around when construction began on SE Campus in the mid-'90s.

Much has changed.

All but a few of the cornfields have been plowed to make room for the plethora of houses that seemed to have appeared overnight, and the shopping strips, convenience stores and other commercial amenities that complement urban development.

And now what was once quaint and country has become thriving shopping centers and cozy suburbia.

When the campus opened seven years ago, some said SE Campus was built in the boonies, on the outskirts of Arlington and Mansfield.

TCC administration hoped eventually to enroll 5,000 students.

The campus enrollment is now closer to 8,500, Dr. Judith Carrier, SE president, said.

"I look at our community as a heartbeat pulsating. It is a central area for the economies of Mansfield and Arlington," she said.

There is certainly no shortage of hustle and bustle. Within a two-mile radius three grocery stores, three video-rental stores and upwards of 10 restaurants (among several other businesses) are now vying for the community's consumers.

Extend that radius a few more miles and Grand Prairie's expanding commerce is added, and those statistics triple.

Ask the faculty members about the most evident effect of the community's growth, and the answers are always the same: Traffic. Traffic. Traffic.

"I think the benefits of growth go both ways. Growth is good, but growth brings problems. It brings more traffic. It brings more pollution," John Perkins, associate professor of history, said.

To avoid traffic tie-ups because of wrecks primarily on I-20, which can cause hours of gridlock, many have resorted to roughing it through the rural back-roads to commute to work.

Counselor Mike Eason adopted a different strategy.

"I live in Fort Worth, and now I leave my house at 6:45 in the morning, an hour earlier than I did when the school opened, in order to cope with the traffic. If I didn't leave that early, it would probably take me an extra half-hour or hour to get to work," he said.

And Eason is not alone in that assessment either.

Perkins said, "It used to be so different. When I started, there were two red lights between I-20 and the school, and now there are several. The campus was out in the middle of nowhere. I've seen the traffic increase, and it's made it a less enjoyable drive to work," he said.

To alleviate the traffic situation, the surrounding cities have taken a few measures.

New York Avenue, a road that borders the west side of the campus, contains select spots of added lanes and an extension put in place by a linkage with an existing road.

Sublett Road, a street that carries traffic from the east and west, was also extended and widened in select areas.

Yet planning for each of these provisions began before the campus opened, Darrell Westmoreland, senior transportation planner of the area, said.

The two most prominent problem spots are the heavily worn SE Parkway, which borders the northern entrance of the campus, and the worry of when construction to extend highway 360 south will begin.

The majority of SE Parkway is an older two-lane road that has been periodically resurfaced, but it was never meant to handle the current amount of traffic.

The construction to widen the road is tentatively scheduled to begin in 2005 and end the following year, but that is subject to city council approval and could change, David Corley, engineering operations manager of the area, said.

There is a proposed resurfacing project for the street, but Corley has not been given a definite timeline.

As for the extension of 360, Westmoreland said, "There is nothing definite planned at this point."

That could be problematic because of the still growing population, Westmoreland said.

Despite the precarious plans to address the traffic immediately surrounding the campus, the area to the north of the campus, which contains the closest eateries, remains reasonably accessible and a noted improvement when contrasted to options seven years prior, several faculty members agreed.

"When the campus first opened, the only place I knew of to eat was a little bar that served burgers down the street," Dr. Jim Schrantz, professor of English, said.

The bar was nicknamed the "biker bar" by the TCC faculty, and what was then called the social studies department held a department meeting at the bar, Perkins said.

"The original name was Fish Tails, and we walked in there with our suits and ties. It was a tough place. It felt like we should walk in there with a tire iron. But they had good food, and we held a department meeting out on their patio once," he said.

Since that time, several eateries have been added to the north of the campus, including Sonic, Subway, Jack in the Box and Brooklyn's Best Pizza, Chuck Hope, assistant professor of history, said.

Hope adamantly denies having gone to the biker bar with his colleagues, claiming instead that he always has and still does bring his lunch.

Lunch venues aside, the population growth has added to the present SE Campus student body, as well as the potential future student body-something promising to a college that hopes to expand institutionally to house more students, thereby, improving the community for everyone, Carrier said.

Other improvements hoped for by faculty in the near future include a comprehensive public transportation plan and a nearby daycare center for busy parents.

"I would like to see a regional transportation system that links everything: Arlington, Dallas, Fort Worth," Perkins said.

Without public transportation, Perkins fears traffic problems in the area and pollution regionwide will only worsen.

Schrantz suggested the community could benefit from a "drop-in daycare center."

The center would ideally care for children on an as-needed hourly basis, as well as cater to those preferring to make arrangements on a monthly basis.

"If a parent had a sick babysitter or couldn't find someone to watch the child that day, it would be nice to have a drop-in daycare where they could drop them off for a couple of hours and not have to miss class," he said.