The AARoads Blog

The new stack at the Dallas North Tollway and the Sam Rayburn Tollway in suburban Dallas is a little more than halfway finished. Construction began in February 2010, and the junction is expected to open in March, 2012. This photo was taken yesterday, looking north.

The newest section of freeway opened in El Paso yesterday, completing Spur 601.

Originally called the Inner Loop Freeway, Spur 601 was renamed the “Liberty Expressway” and it connects “Purple Heart Blvd” with the “Patriot Freeway” with an exit at “Constitution Avenue” for good measure. If this all sounds like the freeway system of a fictional city in the G.I. Joe Universe, it may have something to do with the fact that the road runs through the large army base of Fort Bliss and will be used by a lot of active troops. Recent base closures and realignments have meant that the number of personnel based at Fort Bliss has grown considerably. Construction on the first portion of the route began in 2007. A new method of financing called “pass-through” was used here, and it means the DOT can pay for the construction through semi-annual payments instead of entirely up-front.

El Paso’s next big freeway project will sit along Loop 375 along the Rio Grande River, and consists of adding toll lanes. Bidding for the project started last month. All of El Paso’s future large road projects, like almost all in Texas, are going to be tolled with the exception of those used primarily for the military.

Plano, a suburb of Dallas, opened Texas’ first “Michigan Left” today.

The newspaper was replete with graphic and map, while the local news had stories from confused locals – who were unable to ascertain how to use the newfangled contraption. Plano is also getting the state’s first SPUI, now under construction.

The second batch of South Texas photos.

A pair of Mexican eagles, not too far across the Rio Grande in Texas.

Odd duck of an interstate shield. Several of these are found in Laredo.

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Some photos from a trip to south Texas, February 2009.

One of the oldest signs in Texas. Mid-70s or so. How it has survived, I will never know.

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Texas State Highway 161 is part of the outer (outer) loop of Dallas currently being constructed all the way around the city, ignoring that pesky Fort Worth. Other parts of the roadway include the planned Loop 9 to the south, and George Bush Turnpike. The latter road is currently being extended east and south of its current terminus.

The newest section of SH 161 to open is about 5 miles long and stretches south from SH 183 in Irving and ends spitting distance from Interstate 30. The new toll road provides a direct link from Dallas’ wealthy northern suburbs to the new Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington, just west on I-30. This new stretch of roadway opened during the first week of August, 2009 – but all lanes opened a few weeks ago.

The road is 6 lanes of very bright concrete, and has very little traffic, as evidenced by the photos above. The first looks south from SH 183, and the second shows the current end just north of I-30.

Texas has pushed quite a bit of old video to the web, including a few historic road gems. Take a look at this view of construction in Austin in 1965.

The Texas Archive of the Moving Image can be found here.

Just broke 10000 total photos.

if you’re wondering, the 10000th one is in this set of photos, from the 1967 50th Anniversary edition of Texas Highways magazine.

The third day, in which we see much Texas.

Cadillacs in the mist. The world-famous Cadillac Ranch, just east of Amarillo.

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And here is the second day of the Route 66 trip.

Same starting point – sunny Union County – this time even earlier in the dawn.

Button copy in New Mexico is very hard to find. This example, on old US-66, might be the only one left in the state.

What do we have here? Classic state-named US shields … put up sometime between September and November of 2009! In Santa Rosa, on I-40, about ten signs eastbound have the old-style shields.

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