Detours are no idle threat By MARK MACESICH Special Contributor / The Dallas Morning News
For Dallas-Fort Worth motorists,
"getting around" is about attitude as much as
reaching a destination. Because there's almost always something
to get around on roadways in the seven-county region.
Besides rush-hour accidents,
phantom slowdowns – so named because there's no apparent
reason for them – and familiar commuter meat grinders,
motorists face highway construction projects that often
defy the Texas Department of Transportation's best efforts
to keep traffic flowing smoothly.
"It's everywhere,"
says Mark Ball, TxDOT's Dallas district public information
officer, referring to the construction.
So, in the spirit of our
smartest road warriors – who know that forewarned
is better than not being warned at all – here are
some of the region's biggest construction areas:
COLLIN COUNTY
State Highway 121:
Three-year, 6.3-mile reconstruction, U.S. Highway 75 to
west of Custer Road (FM2478). $46.5 million. Completion
2006.
Dallas North Tollway
(Plano): Construction of three-level interchange
at Highway 121. $31 million. Completion late 2004.
DALLAS COUNTY
Interstate 635/U.S.
Highway 75 (Dallas): The BIG one, better known
as the "High Five." Construction of five-level
interchange, surrounding service roads, ramps and bridges.
$260 million. Completion late 2006.
Interstate 30 (Dallas):
The BIG one south? Widening 7.5 miles from six
to eight lanes, adding interchanges, east of Loop 12 to
east of Sylvan Avenue. $97 million. Completion mid-2007.
Bush Turnpike (Carrollton,
Farmers Branch): Constructing about four miles
of roadway extending tollway from I-35E to I-635, $75.6
million, and interchange at I-35E and State Highway 190,
$17.4 million. Completion 2006.
I-35E (DeSoto, Lancaster):
Nearly five-year project widening 4.8 miles from four to
10 lanes, Parkerville Road area to Interstate 20. $75 million.
Completion late 2004.
I-635 (Mesquite):
Reconstructing Town Centre Drive and Town East Boulevard
interchanges, repaving highway, adding lanes and ramp, U.S.
Highway 80 to north of Town East Boulevard. $38 million.
Completion 2006.
I-30 (Grand Prairie):
Widening 2.9 miles from six to 10 lanes, adding interchange
and noise wall, Northwest Seventh Street to Tarrant County
line. $35.5 million. Completion late 2006.
Belt Line Road/FM1382
(Cedar Hill, DeSoto): Three-year project widening
eight miles, U.S. Highway 67 to Hampton Road. $26 million.
Completion early 2005.
DENTON COUNTY
State Highway 121
(Lewisville): It's not the High Five, but it might
qualify as this county's equivalent. Construction of 3.3
miles, main lanes and connectors, I-35E interchange area.
$87 million. Completion early 2007.
U.S. Highway 380:
Three-year project widening 9.6 miles, U.S. Highway 377
to Collin County line. $28 million. Completion early 2004.
I-35E (Lewisville):
Two-year-plus project constructing interchange at FM407.
$19.5 million. August to 2006.
FM3040 (Flower Mound,
Lewisville): Widening 6.2 miles, FM2499 to Edmonds
Lane. $17.6 million. August to 2006.
Highway 380 (Denton):
Constructing six-lane, 2.7-mile divided roadway, U.S. Highway
77 to Loop 288. $14 million. September to 2006.
Highway 77 (Denton):
Reconstructing, widening 3.7-mile roadway, I-35 to U.S.
Highway 380. $12.7 million. Completion mid-2004.
I-35E (Lewisville,
Denton): Nearly two-year project rehabilitating
26 miles, Dallas County line to junction with I-35W and
Highway 77. $11.5 million. Completion mid-2004.
ELLIS COUNTY
U.S. Highway 287
(Midlothian): Two-year-plus project widening 5.7
miles to four-lane divided roadway, northwest to county
line. $16.6 million. Completion mid-2005.
Highway 287 (Waxahachie):
Widening 4.8 miles, northwest to Sardis. $16.4 million.
Completion near year's end.
Highway 77 (Waxahachie):
Widening 4.8 miles, from Highway 287 to State Highway 342.
$13 million. Completion 2005.
TARRANT COUNTY
Loop 820 (Fort Worth,
Haltom City, North Richland Hills): Imminent reconstruction
of Rufe Snow Drive overpass, precursor to project widening
5.5 miles of Northeast Loop from four lanes to 10 between
I-35W and State Highway 26. Overpass $6.3 million. Overall
project $100 million. Start-up of widening phase 2005 (projected).
State Highway 360
(Grapevine, Euless): Constructing 2.9 miles, Highway
121 to Mid-Cities Boulevard. $23 million. August to 2005.
Second phase: Construction of 1.9 miles, Mid-Cities Boulevard
to State Highway 183. $16 million. Start-up late 2004 (projected).
State Highway
114 (Southlake): Reconstruction of 2.6 miles, Dove
Road to Kimball Road. $16 million. Completion near year's
end.
TRAFFIC RAP:CLUES ON COPTER CHATTER
Colorful nicknames –
some sounding like sinister amusement park rides –
often pop up for the roads that vex commuters most. Here
are a few in D-FW.
THE CANYON:
Sunken portion of Interstate 30 south of downtown Dallas
and just east of the infamous "Mixmaster" (see
below). It's not hard to figure out how the name arose,
as the roadway runs well below the surface level of adjacent
buildings. It's usually clogged with inbound, outbound and
through traffic during the workweek.
CARROLLTON CORRIDOR: Stemmons Freeway (Interstate
35E) between Belt Line Road and LBJ Freeway (Interstate
635), undoubtedly a special location for morning commuters,
who probably have uttered a few other names along this stretch.
GRAPEVINE FUNNEL:
The convergence of Interstate 635, State Highways 114 and
121 and other high-volume routes northwest of Dallas/Fort
Worth International Airport dumps some 20 lanes of traffic
into fewer than half that number. A project to eliminate
the "funnel" is in the planning stages.
LOOP 12:
The name's official, but it's enough to have newcomers driving
in circles around Dallas – and a portion of Irving
– via Northwest Highway (north), Buckner Boulevard
(east), Ledbetter Drive (south) and Walton Walker Boulevard
(west).
MIXMASTER (Dallas):
Travel it once during any business day and you, too, will
feel like you've been through the cake mixer with which
it was identified in the late '50s and early '60s. Appropriately,
this unfriendly merger of Interstate 30 and I-35E on the
western edge of Dallas' downtown is generally regarded as
one of the worst commuting bottlenecks in the nation.
MIXMASTER (Fort Worth):
Reconstruction wrapped up recently on Fort Worth's I-30/I-35W
interchange, and that should be good news for motorists.
Also known as "The Pretzel" in its early years,
this was Texas' first four-level stacked interchange when
it was constructed in the late '50s.
RICHARDSON CORRIDOR:
North Central Expressway (US-75) between Belt Line Road and
LBJ. A headache before construction work began on the High
Five interchange, it has become a migraine for inbound commuters.
HIGH FIVE:
A name taken from a Dallas Morning News reader survey of
commuters who, almost certainly, are reserving any celebration
until completion. The five-level project is supposed to
clean up a nightmarish scene of rush-hour slowdowns caused
by overtaxed traffic lanes, highway bottlenecks, left-hand
exits, backed-up loop ramps and dead-end frontage roads
at the convergence of LBJ Freeway and North Central Expressway
(US 75).
