DFW Projects Thread

[txstateends]

Southern Gateway construction:
Over the weekend, the Beckley overpass between Zang and the Dallas Zoo will be dismantled, so all I-35E traffic will be detoured to the service roads.

https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2018/07/27/interstate-35e-closed-dallas-bridge-demolition/

[Stephane Dumas]

I saw via TXDOT project tracker then I-30 (Tom Landry Fwy), they'll add frontage roads from TX-161 to Beltline Road in Grand Prairie.  I saw some construction on Google Streetview where the shots was from January 2018.  https://www.google.com/maps/@32.7593317,-97.009156,3a,75y,211.92h,97.67t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s77cAb_MZv0GWE4cE1psxwg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Sorry for quoting myself. ^^; But I founded some schematics about the present construction of I-30/Tom Landry Frwy service roads between TX-161 and Beltine Road.
http://www.keepitmovingdallas.com/projects/interstate-highways/ih-30-from-sh-161-to-belt-line-road

Any long-range plans to add additionnal gaps of service roads along the Tom Landry Freeway?

[txstateends]

I saw via TXDOT project tracker then I-30 (Tom Landry Fwy), they'll add frontage roads from TX-161 to Beltline Road in Grand Prairie.  I saw some construction on Google Streetview where the shots was from January 2018.  https://www.google.com/maps/@32.7593317,-97.009156,3a,75y,211.92h,97.67t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s77cAb_MZv0GWE4cE1psxwg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Sorry for quoting myself. ^^; But I founded some schematics about the present construction of I-30/Tom Landry Frwy service roads between TX-161 and Beltine Road.
http://www.keepitmovingdallas.com/projects/interstate-highways/ih-30-from-sh-161-to-belt-line-road

Any long-range plans to add additionnal gaps of service roads along the Tom Landry Freeway?

I've not heard of any.  It would be difficult in some places due to landforms and built-up areas.  Then you have spots like between Oakland and the east part of I-820 in east Fort Worth where city streets (Bridge St. and Brentwood Stair Dr. in this case) form out-of-ROW service road-type access.  Many retrofits would have to happen along I-30 for there to be a much greater availability of service roads.  Since this part of I-30 was originally built as the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike, it wasn't built with service roads (or easy, uncomplicated on/off exits) in mind.  It's much like the reason so many of the exits and interchanges have been redone in the years since the Turnpike became part of I-30.  If more of I-30 had business/commercial frontage similar to what's near the Cowboys and Rangers stadiums in Arlington, or the latter-day Cockrell Hill Rd. exit in west Dallas, there would likely be more call for adding more service roads.

[Great Lakes Roads]

A major project is done within the DFW metro area!! The I-35W express lanes project had its ribbon cutting and all lanes are open!! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXMqLRtGirM&feature=push-u-sub&attr_tag=hiuoZiQDQjPNOzIK%3A6

[Brian556]

TexRail bridge over SH 114/121 at Grapevine has been built.

SH 114/ FM 156 Interchange is now a functioning diamond interchange. Portable signals are in use while permanent signals are constructed
Old FM 156 bridge over Elizabeth Creek is being replaced. The old one was built in 1921, way before the road became FM 156.
Eagle Parkway has been tied directly into FM 156, eliminating the old intersection.

[wxfree]

In an outskirts project, the expansion of the US 67 bypass around Cleburne to a freeway is nearly complete.  Everything has been built and everything except part of the SH 174 interchange is open.  Traffic is reduced to one lane each way and is directed over the old overpass, but stripes have been painted on the new overpass.  The loop ramps appear to be finished except for paint and reflectors.  It's a half-cloverleaf, with loops for the left turns off the freeway.  There are still some overhead sign structures to be built over the southbound lanes, which have been open the whole time because they're on the old roadway.

This week for the first time I noticed Google Maps showed the new roads.  Yesterday routing directions starting using them.

[longhorn]

A major project is done within the DFW metro area!! The I-35W express lanes project had its ribbon cutting and all lanes are open!! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXMqLRtGirM&feature=push-u-sub&attr_tag=hiuoZiQDQjPNOzIK%3A6

So the project is essentially complete ?

[TXtoNJ]

In an outskirts project, the expansion of the US 67 bypass around Cleburne to a freeway is nearly complete.  Everything has been built and everything except part of the SH 174 interchange is open.  Traffic is reduced to one lane each way and is directed over the old overpass, but stripes have been painted on the new overpass.  The loop ramps appear to be finished except for paint and reflectors.  It's a half-cloverleaf, with loops for the left turns off the freeway.  There are still some overhead sign structures to be built over the southbound lanes, which have been open the whole time because they're on the old roadway.

This week for the first time I noticed Google Maps showed the new roads.  Yesterday routing directions starting using them.

Capacity for traffic into and around Cleburne has drastically increased since 2018. It would not shock me to see significant exurban development north of the 67 corridor over the next 10 years.

[txstateends]

A major project is done within the DFW metro area!! The I-35W express lanes project had its ribbon cutting and all lanes are open!! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXMqLRtGirM&feature=push-u-sub&attr_tag=hiuoZiQDQjPNOzIK%3A6

So the project is essentially complete ?

Sort of.  There's still some activity around the parts that aren't affected by main-lane drivers, plus the work just north of the picture at Belknap/Airport Frwy. still goes on; it's considered a separate project than the main North Freeway/I-35W work has been.  Some locals are concerned that the North Freeway is turning out like the work recently done on the north loop part of I-820; lots of dirt flying, new pavement and paint, but no net increase in the amount of non-tolled lanes.  The ramps and connections to/from Belknap/Airport Frwy. sure could use more work (and even re-engineering) but something tells me it will be years (and more $$$$ from somewhere) before that would be addressed. 

[wxfree]

In an outskirts project, the expansion of the US 67 bypass around Cleburne to a freeway is nearly complete.  Everything has been built and everything except part of the SH 174 interchange is open.  Traffic is reduced to one lane each way and is directed over the old overpass, but stripes have been painted on the new overpass.  The loop ramps appear to be finished except for paint and reflectors.  It's a half-cloverleaf, with loops for the left turns off the freeway.  There are still some overhead sign structures to be built over the southbound lanes, which have been open the whole time because they're on the old roadway.

This week for the first time I noticed Google Maps showed the new roads.  Yesterday routing directions starting using them.

Capacity for traffic into and around Cleburne has drastically increased since 2018. It would not shock me to see significant exurban development north of the 67 corridor over the next 10 years.

The area between Godley and Joshua has been filling in for a while, and it seems to be going faster.  Godley recently opened a new high school, and I've heard they'll have to build another one soon because of the acceleration of growth.  I remember that area being rural, but now most of the day traffic is substantial.  The only major road goes east and west and is narrow and curvy and there's a big gap in between good north-south roads.

Unrelated, but in the same area, at the south end of the Chisholm Trail Parkway where the road narrows to one southbound lane, significantly long lines build up at the traffic signal.  People pay upwards of $5 to drive in quickly from Fort Worth and end up in a quarter-mile line of cars.  In the final build-out, there will be two lanes and direct connectors will enable traffic headed toward the bypass to avoid that signal.  Cleburne's building a new high school, too, but they've been needing a bigger one for the past 20 years.  Hopefully they don't need another one in 10 years.

[Duke87]

While we're in Pavement 101 .... What's the difference between "asphalt" and "asphaltic concrete"?

No difference. "Asphaltic concrete" is just the technical term for what laymen refer to as "asphalt".

This is in contrast to "Portland cement concrete", which laymen refer to as "concrete".


In technical terms, "concrete" describes any conglomerate material consisting of an aggregate (typically gravel or crushed stone) and something to bind it together. Chocolate chip cookie dough could also be thought of as a type of concrete since it also meets this description.

[mgk920]

While we're in Pavement 101 .... What's the difference between "asphalt" and "asphaltic concrete"?

No difference. "Asphaltic concrete" is just the technical term for what laymen refer to as "asphalt".

This is in contrast to "Portland cement concrete", which laymen refer to as "concrete".


In technical terms, "concrete" describes any conglomerate material consisting of an aggregate (typically gravel or crushed stone) and something to bind it together. Chocolate chip cookie dough could also be thought of as a type of concrete since it also meets this description.

Or a Culver's Concrete Shake.



Mike

[J N Winkler]

While we're in Pavement 101 .... What's the difference between "asphalt" and "asphaltic concrete"?

No difference. "Asphaltic concrete" is just the technical term for what laymen refer to as "asphalt".

This is in contrast to "Portland cement concrete", which laymen refer to as "concrete".

In technical terms, "concrete" describes any conglomerate material consisting of an aggregate (typically gravel or crushed stone) and something to bind it together. Chocolate chip cookie dough could also be thought of as a type of concrete since it also meets this description.

Reference works from the early days of dustless road construction (1890-1920) used to speak of Trinidad lake asphalt, a form of naturally occurring bitumen.  The binders now used for modern asphaltic concrete (bituminous pavement being another term for it) tend to originate as heavy fractions from the crude petroleum distilling process.

Macadam is another term for pavement made of relatively fine particles bound somehow.  Bituminous macadam can be asphaltic concrete, while waterbound macadam forms the surface of what we Americans call gravel roads.

[longhorn]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=374&v=sYR86FjXF8I

[txstateends]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=374&v=sYR86FjXF8I

The upcoming I-820 work south of Airport Freeway and north of I-30.... very much needed, especially that WTH interchange with the part of TX 121 coming from downtown Fort Worth.  I'm sure the narrow part of I-820 south of there to past the Trinity River is no commuting/rush-hour picnic, either.

[txstateends]

TxDOT is now calling the project to redo I-20, I-820, and US 287 in SE Fort Worth, Arlington, and vicinity, as the "Southeast Connector".  It looks like there may be more right-of-way needed, with several properties in the area possibly being affected.

The area on the map that's shaded, is the affected area for the project:


https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article217072240.html

[txstateends]

In Fort Worth, work has seemingly dragged on to redo the bridge at I-20/Bryant Irvin Road.  Apparently a few months ago, the original project contractor defaulted before being able to complete their work.  A new contractor was found, now they are saying the project looks to be done by Thanksgiving.

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/traffic/honkin-mad-blog/article218264655.html

[txstateends]

In this article about Cresson, along US 377 SW of Fort Worth, a side note is brought up in the article about US 377 getting a relief route (TxDOT-speak for a bypass) to the west of Cresson.  It will span 3 miles in all; the center of town (if you want to call it that) has a railroad crossing at US 377's intersection with TX 171, and between the narrow in-town ROW and the RR/TX 171 crossing, TxDOT feels a bypass is needed.  Work is supposed to begin next year with completion set for 2022.

https://www.fwweekly.com/2018/09/12/smokin-2/

[wxfree]

There are two interesting points about the Cresson bypass.  Because of the railroad parallel to SH 171, there will be no direct access at the bypass, and traffic in both directions will be guided to the south side of town for access.  I assume that is to avoid the railroad crossing.  The north exit will be labelled only as BU 377, but drivers familiar with the area could use that exit for a more direct route and accept the possibility that there may be a train.

Also, on the north end of the business route, the northbound side will narrow to one lane to merge with the main route, and the southbound side will have two lanes originating at a private drive serving a home.  There will be no other way to get to that section of those lanes (other than a U-turn).  The southbound lanes of the business route north of the new access road to the bypass will be accessible only from 2 private drives, so it's almost a half-private highway.  I'm certain I'll drive to the north end and U-turn so I can be one of few drivers to use those lanes.  I wouldn't be surprised if they reduced that section to one lane when a rebuild is needed, since it will certainly have very low traffic numbers.

[Plutonic Panda]

Regarding the southeast connector project, it would be cool to see 287 have its own elevated lanes that connect it together without having to use I-20 and I-820.

[txstateends]

Regarding the southeast connector project, it would be cool to see 287 have its own elevated lanes that connect it together without having to use I-20 and I-820.

The way projects have been going in DFW of late, I wouldn't be surprised if this or something similar, would be the case when this is done.

[Stephane Dumas]

Regarding the southeast connector project, it would be cool to see 287 have its own elevated lanes that connect it together without having to use I-20 and I-820.

The way projects have been going in DFW of late, I wouldn't be surprised if this or something similar, would be the case when this is done.

If it's not US-287 own elevated lanes. I guess it could be a C-D setup like the short TX-114/121 multiplex. 

Too bad they didn't acquired ROW back it was available, they could had built a span to cross Lake Arlington to link the freeways gaps of US-287.

[txstateends]

Regarding the southeast connector project, it would be cool to see 287 have its own elevated lanes that connect it together without having to use I-20 and I-820.

The way projects have been going in DFW of late, I wouldn't be surprised if this or something similar, would be the case when this is done.

If it's not US-287 own elevated lanes. I guess it could be a C-D setup like the short TX-114/121 multiplex. 

Too bad they didn't acquired ROW back it was available, they could had built a span to cross Lake Arlington to link the freeways gaps of US-287.

I've thought about that over the years, when I'd see a DFW area map or a Fort Worth map, but I figured there was probably too much to overcome if it were to be attempted, either NIMBYs on the west side of Arlington, or environmental concerns, or something else.

[txstateends]

Notorious traffic circle has local drivers fearing for their lives – but not for long

The headline of the linked article is a bit misleading.  It looks like the traffic circle on Fort Worth's west side, sometimes called the 'Benbrook Traffic Circle', where US 377 and TX 183 intersect, is possibly getting a major makeover.  But no, someone complained about merging/yielding problems (there are some traffic issues there apparently), so the city and TxDOT looked into it, and they decided, in their infinite wisdom, to add flashing lights at several points around the circle.

If they're not going to do anything big, at least add some better route signage (it's not always clear at the approaches and the turnoffs, as to what's coming up), and definitely some better streetlighting for night drivers.  It wouldn't hurt to add some plant life too, like a ring of crepe myrtles or something.

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/traffic/honkin-mad-blog/article218655235.html

[Brian556]

Notorious traffic circle has local drivers fearing for their lives — but not for long

The headline of the linked article is a bit misleading.  It looks like the traffic circle on Fort Worth's west side, sometimes called the 'Benbrook Traffic Circle', where US 377 and TX 183 intersect, is possibly getting a major makeover.  But no, someone complained about merging/yielding problems (there are some traffic issues there apparently), so the city and TxDOT looked into it, and they decided, in their infinite wisdom, to add flashing lights at several points around the circle.

If they're not going to do anything big, at least add some better route signage (it's not always clear at the approaches and the turnoffs, as to what's coming up), and definitely some better streetlighting for night drivers.  It wouldn't hurt to add some plant life too, like a ring of crepe myrtles or something.

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/traffic/honkin-mad-blog/article218655235.html

The way they have traffic within the circle yielding to traffic entering the circle sucks. Its is an ackward angle. Also, yes, signage is on a third-world country level of deficient.