conceptual renderings of converting the clover leaf at US287 and I35E to a full 4 level stack.
I am wondering if the new 6 lane bridge being built right now as a part of the widening to 6 lanes is part of the project final product and not a temporary bridge. Would make sense why the I35E frontage bridges got the historic viaduct railing treatment instead of a full removal and replacement this round.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQnGdDuUMsM
Very cool renderings and what's more cooler, is they use old 1970s disco music as a BGM. ;)
It's interesting that the design uses the double-T central pylon which originated with the cookie cutter interchanges along IH-635 and IH-20 in Dallas
http://dfwfreeways.com/book/ExCookieCutter?startOdd=False (http://dfwfreeways.com/book/ExCookieCutter?startOdd=False)
The first cookie-cutter interchange to be built, which is shown in the construction phase in the link above and opened in 1970, is in the process of being replaced by the LBJ East project.
This project is not listed in the TxDOT UTP, which means it is not funded and not slated for construction in the next 10 years. It appears that the City of Waxahachie has prepared these renderings and video (and also maybe paid for the design) to lobby TxDOT to build it.
At first I was confused about the interchange location; I was thinking about where US-287 dovetails into I-45. That interchange needs a bit of improvement, specifically the really tight cloverleaf loop from SB US-287 to NB I-45. That needs to be replaced with a flyover ramp.
As to the interchange with US-287 and I-35E, I think a directional stack would be nice. However, other things need to be done with US-287 well before building anything extravagant like that. All of the at-grade intersections and driveways along US-287 between I-20 and I-45 need to be eliminated. That mainly involves extending frontage roads. US-287 needs to be brought up fully to Interstate quality in the DFW metroplex. Bare minimum it needs to be Interstate quality from I-45 up to the TX-114 intersection at Rhome. Really, US-287 needs to be Interstate quality all the way up through Decatur to miles North of the US-380 intersection.
While the current cloverleaf interchange with I-35E and US-287 is outdated it's still functional and the C/D lanes add an extra layer of safety.
That background music in the video gives me a flashback to golf tournament broadcasts on national TV in the 1980's.
Quote from: Bobby5280 on April 04, 2021, 06:29:23 PM
At first I was confused about the interchange location; I was thinking about where US-287 dovetails into I-45. That interchange needs a bit of improvement, specifically the really tight cloverleaf loop from SB US-287 to NB I-45. That needs to be replaced with a flyover ramp.
As to the interchange with US-287 and I-35E, I think a directional stack would be nice. However, other things need to be done with US-287 well before building anything extravagant like that. All of the at-grade intersections and driveways along US-287 between I-20 and I-45 need to be eliminated. That mainly involves extending frontage roads. US-287 needs to be brought up fully to Interstate quality in the DFW metroplex. Bare minimum it needs to be Interstate quality from I-45 up to the TX-114 intersection at Rhome. Really, US-287 needs to be Interstate quality all the way up through Decatur to miles North of the US-380 intersection.
While the current cloverleaf interchange with I-35E and US-287 is outdated it's still functional and the C/D lanes add an extra layer of safety.
That background music in the video gives me a flashback to golf tournament broadcasts on national TV in the 1980's.
This is already in the works The first section looks to be Mansfield where the now truncated business route diverges. They are in the process of adding frontage roads between just west of SH360 to Broad Street. The plans were drawn up a few years ago for complete grade separation between I20 and 45. They already have the schematics on the 4 lane with crossover sections. The interchange at Plainview/Walnut Grove is nearing completion and the frontage roads are stubbed to prepare for a hook in when they do fully grade separate between Arlington and Ennis. I drove through there on friday major work is done now it looks like certifying the bridge completion and finishing the approaches. Ennis is now fully grade separated 4 lane past the Business route exit. I would redesign the interchange at Business 287 west of Waxahachie and either eliminate the slip ramp exiting Waxahachie for Fort Worth or add a raised bridge over the ramp and have it merge from the right instead of the left merge into the fast lane.
Quote from: Stephane Dumas on April 04, 2021, 09:04:28 AM
Very cool renderings and what's more cooler, is they use old 1970s disco music as a BGM. ;)
That's "Love's Theme" by Barry White. It's a beautiful piece of music, but it's an interesting selection for this kind of video.
Quote from: wxfree on April 04, 2021, 11:11:15 PM
Quote from: Stephane Dumas on April 04, 2021, 09:04:28 AM
Very cool renderings and what's more cooler, is they use old 1970s disco music as a BGM. ;)
That's "Love's Theme" by Barry White. It's a beautiful piece of music, but it's an interesting selection for this kind of video.
Yeah, brought back some memories.
Been a while since I have been on I35E, shouldn't they be almost finish with the three lane expansion?
So once the Plainview/Walnut Grove overpasses open it will be free flow with no traffic lights all the way from FW to I-45? That's perfectly fine for now, it's not the busiest highway and money doesn't grow on trees. I used to drive the route a lot, that light was the only major delay, even the Ennis ones (now gone) were rarely a problem.
Though it looks like eventually only 3 more grade separations are needed in that 4.5 mile Midlothian-Waxy stretch to make it full freeway. Maybe Clinton, Robinson or Eastgate, and Rex Odom, plus some frontage roads.
The Midlothian trio of roads will probably share a single on and off ramp. Rex Odom, which leads to the airport, will get another set. And FM 875 in the Sardis area is going to be rerouted to a new interchange with 287.
Quote from: wxfree on April 04, 2021, 11:11:15 PM
Quote from: Stephane Dumas on April 04, 2021, 09:04:28 AM
Very cool renderings and what's more cooler, is they use old 1970s disco music as a BGM. ;)
That's "Love's Theme" by Barry White. It's a beautiful piece of music, but it's an interesting selection for this kind of video.
It's not actually credited to Barry White, but produced and arranged by him and Gene Page.
A great period instrumental that I suppose kind of captures the vibe of when the cloverleaf was built.
Quote from: Road Hog on April 05, 2021, 08:45:28 PM
The Midlothian trio of roads will probably share a single on and off ramp. Rex Odom, which leads to the airport, will get another set. And FM 875 in the Sardis area is going to be rerouted to a new interchange with 287.
Where is this at? I have not seen any documentation on 875 being rerouted. They just replaced that bridge over Waxahachie creek in the last 5 years on the side of the tracks right before Bus 287. Are they seriously only going to use that bridge for only 10 years? The only rerouting plans I have seen are for FM157 and FM1387 in the Ellis/Midlothian area.
Quote from: armadillo speedbump on April 05, 2021, 03:25:09 PM
So once the Plainview/Walnut Grove overpasses open it will be free flow with no traffic lights all the way from FW to I-45? That's perfectly fine for now, it's not the busiest highway and money doesn't grow on trees. I used to drive the route a lot, that light was the only major delay, even the Ennis ones (now gone) were rarely a problem.
Though it looks like eventually only 3 more grade separations are needed in that 4.5 mile Midlothian-Waxy stretch to make it full freeway. Maybe Clinton, Robinson or Eastgate, and Rex Odom, plus some frontage roads.
I am expecting traffic lights soon down in the Grand Prairie section and TXDOT once again getting behind the times. They are building a housing development on the eastern side of Padera Lake. Right there just west of the merge back to the old routing west of Midlothian after the west end of the business loop. Then I saw the traffic at Prairie Ridge Bvld last Friday I could not believe it is not signalized. Rolls eyes. Too much housing going in an TXDOT not staying ahead of the curve. We needed full grade separation when they decided to build the Ennis and Midlothian bypasses. The time to upgrade to a full freeway should have been when they twinned it back in the early 2000s.
It does look like there will be a significant non-freeway gap between the US-287 freeway exit project at Plainview Rd/Walnut Grove and the existing bypass around the South Side of Midlothian. It would be a real shame if TX DOT allowed that segment of US-287 to get covered up with development, pigged with traffic signals and effetively turned into a surface street.
Rather than lobby for a 4-level stack interchange at US-287 and I-35E, the town fathers in Waxahachie need to be doing a whole lot more pushing for US-287 to be 100% Interstate quality between I-20 and I-45. A 4-level stack is going to be a tough sell is US-287 has to go through one or more little "Breezewoods" near the interchange.
Quote from: Bobby5280 on April 06, 2021, 01:12:35 PM
It does look like there will be a significant non-freeway gap between the US-287 freeway exit project at Plainview Rd/Walnut Grove and the existing bypass around the South Side of Midlothian. It would be a real shame if TX DOT allowed that segment of US-287 to get covered up with development, pigged with traffic signals and effetively turned into a surface street.
Rather than lobby for a 4-level stack interchange at US-287 and I-35E, the town fathers in Waxahachie need to be doing a whole lot more pushing for US-287 to be 100% Interstate quality between I-20 and I-45. A 4-level stack is going to be a tough sell is US-287 has to go through one or more little "Breezewoods" near the interchange.
The "town fathers" are the small businesses that would stand to profit off of this. You'd better believe they won't do a thing like that.
Quote from: TXtoNJ on April 07, 2021, 09:46:51 AM
Quote from: Bobby5280 on April 06, 2021, 01:12:35 PM
It does look like there will be a significant non-freeway gap between the US-287 freeway exit project at Plainview Rd/Walnut Grove and the existing bypass around the South Side of Midlothian. It would be a real shame if TX DOT allowed that segment of US-287 to get covered up with development, pigged with traffic signals and effetively turned into a surface street.
Rather than lobby for a 4-level stack interchange at US-287 and I-35E, the town fathers in Waxahachie need to be doing a whole lot more pushing for US-287 to be 100% Interstate quality between I-20 and I-45. A 4-level stack is going to be a tough sell is US-287 has to go through one or more little "Breezewoods" near the interchange.
The "town fathers" are the small businesses that would stand to profit off of this. You'd better believe they won't do a thing like that.
The plans have already been drawn up for the interstate grade upgrades. They had the public meeting in 2019 for the frontage roads and there are schematics of proposed interchanges. It is being built in phases as funding is allocated. I was in Waxahachie today TXDOT is installing cable barrier on the Waxahachie bypass.
Quote from: Bobby5280 on April 06, 2021, 01:12:35 PM
It does look like there will be a significant non-freeway gap between the US-287 freeway exit project at Plainview Rd/Walnut Grove and the existing bypass around the South Side of Midlothian. It would be a real shame if TX DOT allowed that segment of US-287 to get covered up with development, pigged with traffic signals and effetively turned into a surface street.
Rather than lobby for a 4-level stack interchange at US-287 and I-35E, the town fathers in Waxahachie need to be doing a whole lot more pushing for US-287 to be 100% Interstate quality between I-20 and I-45. A 4-level stack is going to be a tough sell is US-287 has to go through one or more little "Breezewoods" near the interchange.
TXDOT has for years required a setback for new development in that corridor. The section for Plainview and Walnut Grove had impromptu frontage roads for years between the buildings that were offset to allow for an pair of one way frontage roads to be built.
The first two intersections at the East end of the freeway bypass around Midlothian (South Clinton Lane and Primrose Drive) have properties set too close to the US-287 main lanes to allow frontage roads. The intersection with Robinson Rd/Shady Grove Rd is another pretty complicated puzzle. There are other properties set at closer than frontage road distance to the US-287 main lanes in that area. Building continuous frontage roads through there would mean at least some of those buildings would have to be cleared to free up the space.
Quote from: Bobby5280 on April 08, 2021, 12:58:14 AM
The first two intersections at the East end of the freeway bypass around Midlothian (South Clinton Lane and Primrose Drive) have properties set too close to the US-287 main lanes to allow frontage roads. The intersection with Robinson Rd/Shady Grove Rd is another pretty complicated puzzle. There are other properties set at closer than frontage road distance to the US-287 main lanes in that area. Building continuous frontage roads through there would mean at least some of those buildings would have to be cleared to free up the space.
It is not as large of an impact as you think. When TXDOT bulldozed Linda's Cafe about 20+ years ago on the south side of US287 just east of the Railroad overpass at Clinton Ln. They made room for frontage roads. Google satellite view has been updated showing the work at Plainview and Walnut Grove. They are using the median ROW for the main lanes in that area.
The businesses at the intersection of US-287 and Plainview Rd/S Walnut Grove Rd are set farther back from the US-287 main lanes than the properties just to the West (the intersections with South Clinton Lane, Primrose Drive, Robinson Rd, Eastgate Rd and Ramsey St).
The old median of US-287 at the Plainview Rd/S Walnut Grove Rd was not wide enough to fit new freeway main lanes. So the existing US-287 roadway had to be completely removed and replaced with flanking frontage roads spread farther apart to hold the new freeway. Looking at it in Google Earth with the historical imagery slider shows a pretty good shift prior to the project start at the end of 2018 compared to the November 2020 imagery.
Doing grade separations and/or access cut-offs with frontage roads at the South Clinton Lane, Primrose Drive, Robinson Rd, Eastgate Rd and Ramsey St intersections is do-able currently. I think at least a couple properties may be affected by the expansion. But if TX DOT sits around for years, allowing more stuff to encroach the road that little stretch of US-287 will turn into a Breezewood.
Just for my own upcoming travel purposes, I'm curious if any of these highways are currently under construction:
I-35E between I-20 and Waxahachie
US-287 between Waxahachie and Ennis
I think the US-287 project on the South side of Ennis is finished. But there is probably still widening work in progress on I-35E just North of Waxahachie.
Quote from: kphoger on April 09, 2021, 01:13:09 PM
Just for my own upcoming travel purposes, I'm curious if any of these highways are currently under construction:
I-35E between I-20 and Waxahachie
US-287 between Waxahachie and Ennis
I35E yes. They are working on the bypass section of Waxahachie adding a 3rd lane each direction replacing all of the bridges for I35E mainlanes from US77 South of town to US77 North of town. The only overpass from side roads that got replaced was the Brookside Rd. Overpass.
Quote from: Bobby5280 on April 09, 2021, 03:03:40 PM
I think the US-287 project on the South side of Ennis is finished. But there is probably still widening work in progress on I-35E just North of Waxahachie.
The widening is the last section needing to be widened between the hill and Ellis County line and US77 exit on the Northside of Waxahachie.
Looks like the Walnut Grove and Plainview Road overpass bridge on US287 is opened as of last week or Saturday. Southbound was on it yesterday when I drove to Waxahachie and New Traffic Pattern for Northbound was scheduled today according to advisory construction signage probably meaning they switched northbound onto the overpass today. They are still doing landscaping and finishing work on the service roads.
Quote from: Bobby5280 on April 06, 2021, 01:12:35 PM
It does look like there will be a significant non-freeway gap between the US-287 freeway exit project at Plainview Rd/Walnut Grove and the existing bypass around the South Side of Midlothian. It would be a real shame if TX DOT allowed that segment of US-287 to get covered up with development, pigged with traffic signals and effetively turned into a surface street.
Rather than lobby for a 4-level stack interchange at US-287 and I-35E, the town fathers in Waxahachie need to be doing a whole lot more pushing for US-287 to be 100% Interstate quality between I-20 and I-45. A 4-level stack is going to be a tough sell is US-287 has to go through one or more little "Breezewoods" near the interchange.
TXDOT has the schematics already drawn up for all of it they have proposed interchanges all the way from Ennis to Mansfield already laid out. It is in the works. It went into public meet phase back in 2020 I believe.
https://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/get-involved/about/hearings-meetings/dallas/042120.html
That music should be used much more often in additional presentation videos.
It would be even better to rework the interchange as the one in El Paso.
Hang on a minute. This video was uploaded to YouTube by a "Dirk Younts", who has 7 subscribers. Comments are turned off on the video.
Is this an official proposal, or is this Some Guy doing a 3D Fictional Highways presentation that manages to look a lot like a real public information video for a project?
Quote from: Road Hog on April 05, 2021, 08:53:05 PM
Quote from: wxfree on April 04, 2021, 11:11:15 PM
Quote from: Stephane Dumas on April 04, 2021, 09:04:28 AM
Very cool renderings and what's more cooler, is they use old 1970s disco music as a BGM. ;)
That's "Love's Theme" by Barry White. It's a beautiful piece of music, but it's an interesting selection for this kind of video.
It's not actually credited to Barry White, but produced and arranged by him and Gene Page.
A great period instrumental that I suppose kind of captures the vibe of when the cloverleaf was built.
My god, this video feels like a clip from the opening credits of a prime time soap intended to compete with the show "Dallas". Bravo, TXDOT.
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 19, 2021, 09:55:46 PM
Hang on a minute. This video was uploaded to YouTube by a "Dirk Younts", who has 7 subscribers. Comments are turned off on the video.
Is this an official proposal, or is this Some Guy doing a 3D Fictional Highways presentation that manages to look a lot like a real public information video for a project?
Considering the video has the official logo of the city if this was fan fiction the man could be sued by the city for misappropriation of their logo. I think it's something the city had drawn up. I don't think it is fake. This is likely something drawn up for the city and got leaked to youtube if anything and video comments turned off mean nothing sometimes video posters disable comments to not have controversy in the comments if its something that's not final. The courthouse style gateway artwork monuments scream the Waxahachie Historic society I don't think its fan made. The court house and the 1931 viaduct are two of the most prominent features of the city that the city showcases as tourism and that is why all of the I35 overpasses are getting a very similar railing to the 1931 viaduct that is soon to come down and replicated in other places locally in the metro on newer bridges. I think the city may have hired the man to make the video and he posted it to YouTube himself why else is the city watermark in the lower bottom corner of the video. Its probably a video that would get released if TXDOT was to add it to the transportation plan or something to send to the regional transportation commission for discussion and TXDOT. I just don't see how a fan fiction would include the city logo as a watermark. More than likely the city of Waxahachie is preparing for the 2030s and working to get an interchange added to the transportation plan. There is already studies on upgrading the cloverleaf stack in midlothian to a fully directional complicated stack as it is missing a exit to Northbound US67 from US287. There are corridor upgrades planned along with a future stack at TX360 in Mansfield.
We're still talking about Waxahachie, right? A town of 35,000 people? Tell me what level of video quality you were expecting.
Quote from: motorola870 on April 19, 2021, 09:14:33 PM
TXDOT has the schematics already drawn up for all of it they have proposed interchanges all the way from Ennis to Mansfield already laid out. It is in the works. It went into public meet phase back in 2020 I believe.
https://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/get-involved/about/hearings-meetings/dallas/042120.html
Thanks.
So 3 more grade separations planned from the 360 interchange to Midlothian, 5 between Mid. and Waxahachie, and 5 Wax-Ennis. None actually needed until traffic growth requires a signaled intersection.