TX: Interesting US 82 Modifications Dekalb to I-30

[Brian556]

This is interesting because #1) They used concrete on a non-divided rural highway, and 2) There are two lanes going one direction, and one lane going the other in some areas.

Satellite view shows it still under construction. Street View shows the finished product:

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.5040516,-94.5827511,3a,16.7y,270.61h,87.06t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sZechR9KgbhtDWa1BRjNeHQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DZechR9KgbhtDWa1BRjNeHQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D4.6846375%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

[NE2]

It's called a passing lane...

[Brian556]

I know that lol

[US 81]

I remember that 3-lane configuration being very common on rural SHs and some ex-urban FM/RMs back in the - ahem, middle of the last century - but I have seen so many  restriped, usually to four-lanes-no-shoulder; I'm surprised to see a new road striped thus. This configuration preserves some shoulder on both sides.

[rte66man]

Based on the Streeetview, it makes sense as there aren't any businesses on the left so no left turns.  Not so the other direction.

[Bobby5280]

US-82 through North Texas goes through just about every kind of road configuration possible. At one moment you're on a standard 2 lane road, next thing it's 4-lane, then Interstate quality (but no freeway to freeway interchanges with I-35 or US-75). It goes back and forth. There's stretches of Super 2 even with limited access exits. Adding in 3-lane configurations is just more of the same on that route. A bunch of it could all be upgraded fairly easily to Interstate quality is the virus-like growth in DFW continues creeping North.

3 lane roads, with the third lane being a passing lane, are increasingly common across many parts of Texas. I'm a little disappointed TX DOT did this with US-87 between Dumas and Dalhart. That whole segment (part of the Ports to Plains Corridor) was really supposed to be a 4-lane route. The current 3-lane configuration is a cost cutting compromise. But it's better than the previous 2-lane only road.

[In_Correct]

What is even more interesting is the V Shaped Gore Markings used for the Interchange Ramp. Texas has not used the usual V Shaped Gore Markings and instead uses inadequate / Shaped Gore Markings. That part of the road has room to be 4 lane divided, but is incomplete. A usual shortcut in construction is to turn one of the lanes into a ramp lane, instead of building a separate lane. The ramp's current configuration would need to be reconfigured should U.S. 82 be completely 4 laned in this area. Hopefully they will make the V Shaped Gore Markings again.


Texas was adding passing lanes to roads, often without widening them. They seem to be reverting back to the Super 2 road configuration. I actually do not find this road unique. They seem to be upgrading a road that connects a nearby town to an Interstate. I do not think this area of U.S. 82 would be upgraded to anything more than a 5 Lane Avenue.


U.S. 82 between Sherman and Gainesville has a few grade separations, but also has many residence and business directly access to the road. U.S. 82 Sherman has almost complete upgrade, except for a Interchange with The Unfinished Corridor should be upgraded to a Dallas or El Paso Interchange. Gainesville is even worse, requiring a realignment and numerous Interchanges. A realignment north of the current U.S. 82 seems best.

[Brian556]

What is even more interesting is the V Shaped Gore Markings used for the Interchange Ramp. Texas has not used the usual V Shaped Gore Markings and instead uses inadequate / Shaped Gore Markings. That part of the road has room to be 4 lane divided, but is incomplete. A usual shortcut in construction is to turn one of the lanes into a ramp lane, instead of building a separate lane. The ramp's current configuration would need to be reconfigured should U.S. 82 be completely 4 laned in this area. Hopefully they will make the V Shaped Gore Markings again.


Texas was adding passing lanes to roads, often without widening them. They seem to be reverting back to the Super 2 road configuration. I actually do not find this road unique. They seem to be upgrading a road that connects a nearby town to an Interstate. I do not think this area of U.S. 82 would be upgraded to anything more than a 5 Lane Avenue.


U.S. 82 between Sherman and Gainesville has a few grade separations, but also has many residence and business directly access to the road. U.S. 82 Sherman has almost complete upgrade, except for a Interchange with The Unfinished Corridor should be upgraded to a Dallas or El Paso Interchange. Gainesville is even worse, requiring a realignment and numerous Interchanges. A realignment north of the current U.S. 82 seems best.

What is "The Unfinished Corridor"?

[US71]

I was down that way last Summer. I remember thinking the pavement looked very new.

[txstateends]

[...]

U.S. 82 Sherman has almost complete upgrade, except for a Interchange with The Unfinished Corridor should be upgraded to a Dallas or El Paso Interchange. Gainesville is even worse, requiring a realignment and numerous Interchanges. A realignment north of the current U.S. 82 seems best.

What is "The Unfinished Corridor"?

He might mean US 75, I-35, or maybe the Dallas N. Tollway, but who knows?  I've never heard anyone in north TX call any highway by that name before.

[In_Correct]

[...]

U.S. 82 Sherman has almost complete upgrade, except for a Interchange with The Unfinished Corridor should be upgraded to a Dallas or El Paso Interchange. Gainesville is even worse, requiring a realignment and numerous Interchanges. A realignment north of the current U.S. 82 seems best.

What is "The Unfinished Corridor"?

He might mean US 75, I-35, or maybe the Dallas N. Tollway, but who knows?  I've never heard anyone in north TX call any highway by that name before.

Interstate 35 is a complete Interstate. The Unfinished Corridor is not. And while The Unfinished Corridor has many designations based on project status, it is the same route.

U.S. 82 going under The Unfinished Corridor:

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.6702442,-96.6083779,3a,75y,292.27h,90.12t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sMhGenkSV-yIorWLGnPpIWw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[Bobby5280]

That image would be US-82 going under US-75 in Sherman. I could go along with calling US-75 an "unfinished corridor," in Oklahoma that is (with the US-69 overlap and route to Big Cabin being thrown in for emphasis).

U.S. 82 between Sherman and Gainesville has a few grade separations, but also has many residence and business directly access to the road. U.S. 82 Sherman has almost complete upgrade, except for a Interchange with The Unfinished Corridor should be upgraded to a Dallas or El Paso Interchange. Gainesville is even worse, requiring a realignment and numerous Interchanges. A realignment north of the current U.S. 82 seems best.

TX DOT is currently doing studies and has been holding public meetings about possible alignments for a US-82 reliever route around Gainesville, either to the North or South. I agree a North alignment would be the best option. Such a route can be built closer and more parallel to US-82. It would better serve traffic bound for the outlet mall nearby and WinStar Casino across the river.

It wouldn't be difficult to upgrade US-82 between Whitesboro and Sherman. Some properties would have to be cleared, but most are on setbacks wide enough to allow frontage roads and freeway main lanes. Gainesville to Whitesboro would probably require a new terrain alignment. There's just too much stuff built up next to the existing 4-lane highway.

[Brian556]

That image would be US-82 going under US-75 in Sherman. I could go along with calling US-75 an "unfinished corridor," in Oklahoma that is (with the US-69 overlap and route to Big Cabin being thrown in for emphasis).

U.S. 82 between Sherman and Gainesville has a few grade separations, but also has many residence and business directly access to the road. U.S. 82 Sherman has almost complete upgrade, except for a Interchange with The Unfinished Corridor should be upgraded to a Dallas or El Paso Interchange. Gainesville is even worse, requiring a realignment and numerous Interchanges. A realignment north of the current U.S. 82 seems best.

TX DOT is currently doing studies and has been holding public meetings about possible alignments for a US-82 reliever route around Gainesville, either to the North or South. I agree a North alignment would be the best option. Such a route can be built closer and more parallel to US-82. It would better serve traffic bound for the outlet mall nearby and WinStar Casino across the river.

It wouldn't be difficult to upgrade US-82 between Whitesboro and Sherman. Some properties would have to be cleared, but most are on setbacks wide enough to allow frontage roads and freeway main lanes. Gainesville to Whitesboro would probably require a new terrain alignment. There's just too much stuff built up next to the existing 4-lane highway.

Concerning US 82 at Gainesville: That would mean a second bypass. This is because US 82 was originally routed around three sides of a square rather than one, so to speak. It ran through downtown on California St. It seems crazy that they would even consider a southern route, but I guess you have to look into all options

[aboges26]

That image would be US-82 going under US-75 in Sherman. I could go along with calling US-75 an "unfinished corridor," in Oklahoma that is (with the US-69 overlap and route to Big Cabin being thrown in for emphasis).

U.S. 82 between Sherman and Gainesville has a few grade separations, but also has many residence and business directly access to the road. U.S. 82 Sherman has almost complete upgrade, except for a Interchange with The Unfinished Corridor should be upgraded to a Dallas or El Paso Interchange. Gainesville is even worse, requiring a realignment and numerous Interchanges. A realignment north of the current U.S. 82 seems best.

TX DOT is currently doing studies and has been holding public meetings about possible alignments for a US-82 reliever route around Gainesville, either to the North or South. I agree a North alignment would be the best option. Such a route can be built closer and more parallel to US-82. It would better serve traffic bound for the outlet mall nearby and WinStar Casino across the river.

It wouldn't be difficult to upgrade US-82 between Whitesboro and Sherman. Some properties would have to be cleared, but most are on setbacks wide enough to allow frontage roads and freeway main lanes. Gainesville to Whitesboro would probably require a new terrain alignment. There's just too much stuff built up next to the existing 4-lane highway.

Concerning US 82 at Gainesville: That would mean a second bypass. This is because US 82 was originally routed around three sides of a square rather than one, so to speak. It ran through downtown on California St. It seems crazy that they would even consider a southern route, but I guess you have to look into all options

The southern bypass option would obviously be more expensive due to a greater length to build, however, it would serve more people by being closer to where people live in Gainesville and it would be better serving for Texas traffic coming up I-35 from the south and then going either way on US 82, and vice versa.

[Finrod]

Over at interstate-dots.blogspot.com one of their ideas for a new interstate is to extend I-16 west from Macon all the way to Lubbock, and US 82 in Texas would be the natural route for it:

http://interstate-dots.blogspot.com/2006/03/interstate-16-extension-start-savannah.html

[Bobby5280]

Obviously fictional territory stuff. But I-16? That designation doesn't make any sense for North Texas. It's North of both I-20 and I-30. Such a route would involve yet another Mississippi River bridge crossing a ways South of where The Great River Bridge is proposed to be built for the I-69 corridor. I can see I-16 being extended to Columbus, GA and the I-85 corridor. But that's it. I-85 itself has been mentioned as a possiblity to be extended from Montgomery to I-20 near Meridian, MS.

As for the US-82 corridor I certainly see the possibility of further Interstate quality upgrades as the North Texas region continues to add population. A Wichita Falls to Texarkana corridor makes sense. I also strongly believe US-287 should be upgraded to Interstate quality between Amarillo and Fort Worth (really the upgrade ought to go all the way to I-45 in Ennis). As far as Interstate designations go I-32 had been proposed for an Amarillo to Fort Worth route. This US-82 upgrade would need to carry a designation like I-34 or I-36.

An Interstate from Wichita Falls to Texarkana could be extended farther East along US-82, but I can't see it getting past El Dorado and the I-69 corridor. A $1 billion+ Mississippi River bridge crossing is a giant hurdle.

I wouldn't mind seeing US-82 turned into an Interstate between Wichita Falls and Lubbock. But honestly there's not enough traffic along the route to justify the expense. Parts of the route are being 4-laned though. I'd like I-44 extended South from Wichita Falls along US-277 to Abilene and maybe San Angelo. Some of the towns along the route have been getting new bypasses built at or near Interstate quality. I wish the same kinds of upgrades were happening along US-287 between Fort Worth and Amarillo.

[DJStephens]

US-82 through North Texas goes through just about every kind of road configuration possible. At one moment you're on a standard 2 lane road, next thing it's 4-lane, then Interstate quality (but no freeway to freeway interchanges with I-35 or US-75). It goes back and forth. There's stretches of Super 2 even with limited access exits. Adding in 3-lane configurations is just more of the same on that route. A bunch of it could all be upgraded fairly easily to Interstate quality is the virus-like growth in DFW continues creeping North.

3 lane roads, with the third lane being a passing lane, are increasingly common across many parts of Texas. I'm a little disappointed TX DOT did this with US-87 between Dumas and Dalhart. That whole segment (part of the Ports to Plains Corridor) was really supposed to be a 4-lane route. The current 3-lane configuration is a cost cutting compromise. But it's better than the previous 2-lane only road.

All part of a general trend of cheapening.   A three lane road reduces the chance of head on collisions, but in no way provides the safety margin a properly designed four lane with a standard rural median will.  Believe which should be at least 60 feet, yellow line to yellow line.  The non urban Interstate median width is likely even more, 88 feet perhaps.  While this three lane idea has merit, it should be used on second tier, and lower used 2di/3di Federal routes.   

[Road Hog]

This is interesting because #1) They used concrete on a non-divided rural highway, and 2) There are two lanes going one direction, and one lane going the other in some areas.

Satellite view shows it still under construction. Street View shows the finished product:

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.5040516,-94.5827511,3a,16.7y,270.61h,87.06t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sZechR9KgbhtDWa1BRjNeHQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DZechR9KgbhtDWa1BRjNeHQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D4.6846375%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Getting back to the original topic, I drove this particular segment of US 82 a couple of days ago. Yes, it's concrete and has alternating passing lanes, and the ride is really smooth. But the frustrating thing is the speed limit never rises above 60 mph the whole 10 miles from I-30 to DeKalb.

[wtd67]

I wonder if they did the three lane road because of the old railroad next to it was abandoned.  I am sure the state owns it the old railroad path.  They may be planning one day to run another set of lanes making a four lane divided highway. They would convert the existing three lanes to a two lane with full shoulders on both sides.

[US71]

I wonder if they did the three lane road because of the old railroad next to it was abandoned.  I am sure the state owns it the old railroad path.  They may be planning one day to run another set of lanes making a four lane divided highway. They would convert the existing three lanes to a two lane with full shoulders on both sides.

I think the railroad ROW is becoming a Rails to Trails project