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Texas: Proposition 1 easily passes

Started by MaxConcrete, November 04, 2014, 11:41:57 PM

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Bobby5280

QuoteI'm sure you would have liked it even better back when the limit was 55 -- seemed to take almost all day just to get to Amarillo.  And, to add to the fun, several hiding places along the way for our little friends with the lights on top.

I remember how excruciatingly slow that drive was back in the early 1990s. Back then I had a Camaro that lacked cruise control. So I really had to watch my foot and the gas pedal on some stretches on the way to Dallas. 55mph doesn't seem all that slow on a normal 2 lane road or 4 lane expressway with little to no median. But when the road transitions into a very Interstate-like stretch, like how US-287 is going through Bowie, 55mph seems like a slow crawl. I'd be driving what I thought was a normal, legal speed and then look down at the speedometer and see that I was going over 70mph. I got a couple tickets in Montague County during the Summer of 1993 because of that.

QuoteIt would be better if US 287 were at least streamlined (if the interstate preference doesn't ever pan out), but there would need to be the aforementioned bypasses.  Many of the towns that still have no bypasses seem to have the economic-last-leg look and feel to them.  If they weren't on 287 (or didn't have direct traffic flow), there wouldn't be much left to keep them going.

I think some of those towns would do fine with a bypass. Bowie seems to be doing okay despite the US-287 mainline bypassing the original route by almost a mile South. Claude, Clarendon, Memphis, Childress and Quanah seem big enough to fit in that category.

With some of the smaller towns it might be less expensive to upgrade the route straight through and relocate businesses and homes in the path of an expanded ROW. I think that's true for Washburn, Lelia Lake, Hedley, Estelline, Goodlett, Chillicothe & Bellevue. In the case of Washburn frontage roads are already in place to allow an easy upgrade.

TX DOT needs to clean up and preserve some ROW for future expansion in the long term. New and/or extended frontage roads would eliminate some of these driveways leaking out onto the US-287 mainline. There's a few spots between Wichita Falls and Vernon like this. Without some active ROW preservation work more segments of US-287 will wind up in a mess like what's in Decatur: a freeway like facility with exits, but with a bunch of at grade driveways too. That's just dangerous, which is really the main point for upgrading US-287 between DFW and Amarillo.


rte66man

Quote from: Bobby5280 on January 09, 2015, 04:23:52 PM
QuoteI'm sure you would have liked it even better back when the limit was 55 -- seemed to take almost all day just to get to Amarillo.  And, to add to the fun, several hiding places along the way for our little friends with the lights on top.

I remember how excruciatingly slow that drive was back in the early 1990s. Back then I had a Camaro that lacked cruise control. So I really had to watch my foot and the gas pedal on some stretches on the way to Dallas. 55mph doesn't seem all that slow on a normal 2 lane road or 4 lane expressway with little to no median. But when the road transitions into a very Interstate-like stretch, like how US-287 is going through Bowie, 55mph seems like a slow crawl. I'd be driving what I thought was a normal, legal speed and then look down at the speedometer and see that I was going over 70mph. I got a couple tickets in Montague County during the Summer of 1993 because of that.

QuoteIt would be better if US 287 were at least streamlined (if the interstate preference doesn't ever pan out), but there would need to be the aforementioned bypasses.  Many of the towns that still have no bypasses seem to have the economic-last-leg look and feel to them.  If they weren't on 287 (or didn't have direct traffic flow), there wouldn't be much left to keep them going.

I think some of those towns would do fine with a bypass. Bowie seems to be doing okay despite the US-287 mainline bypassing the original route by almost a mile South.  <snipped>

The only reason Bowie is still (relatively) thriving is all the US81 traffic has to exit south of town and SLOWLY proceed through the entire town.  There is no realistic alternative.  Trust me, I've tried them all.
When you come to a fork in the road... TAKE IT.

                                                               -Yogi Berra

MaxConcrete

TxDOT has released the tentative list of projects for the $1.74 billion available. The link has a nice listing and maps
http://www.txdot.gov/apps-cq/prop1/project_info.htm

TxDOT was looking for projects which could be awarded in FY 2015 (which ends in August). So that means "shovel-ready" projects. Most of the selected projects are small (less than $10 million) and a high percentage are maintenance, especially in the rural areas. So there are very few exciting projects. I think most of the interesting projects in the planning phase are just not shovel ready or involve tolls, and this money cannot be used for any project associated with tolls.

Two projects I expected to see on the list but are absent: rebuilding of the IH-610 west and US 59 (Southwest) interchange in Houston, and work related to IH-35E in Dallas (the Southern Gateway project, which does have two toll lanes).

The only surprise to me is the big allocation for widening IH-35E south of Dallas. Most of the big $$$$ projects are rebuilding and widening existing freeways outside of urban areas.

Dallas-Fort Worth. All the big projects except the Arlington interchange are in rural or near-rural areas.






$254 millionBuild interchange at IH-30 and SH 360 in Arlington
$183 millionIH-35E south of Dallas, widen to six lanes from north of Waxahachie to near I-35W interchange, about 30 miles
$79 millionUS 75 north of McKinney, 4 miles: rebuild, widen to 6 lanes, rebuild frontage roads

$71 million
SH 31 Corsicana new 6.9-mile bypass: designed as an ultimate freeway but I don't know if this phase is freeway standards http://www.keepitmovingdallas.com/public-hearings/2014/proposed-sh-31-relief-route-from-sh-31-w-of-corsicana-to-sh-31-e-of-corsicana
$38 millionIH 45 south of Corsicana widen to 6 lanes

Houston. The two big projects are on the outskirts. There is only one project inside Beltway 8, and it is very small!





$93 millionUS 59/IH 69, 10 mile section, rebuild and widen to six main lanes and frontage roads southwest of Rosenberg.
$88 millionUS 290 widen to 6 lanes northwest of Houston (outside Grand Parkway)
$28 millionFM 2234, widen to four lanes (non-freeway)
$26 millionBeltway 8 north, add lanes between US 59 and IH 45

Elsewhere








$101 millionIH 35E through Austin, add auxiliary lanes and other small improvements through the area
$22 millionSH 71 in east Bastrop, add freeway section at SH 21
$16 millionSH 44 Corpus Christi, extend freeway
$22 millionEl Paso Loop 375, widen 6 miles in east El Paso
$38 millionLaredo, improvements to Loop 20
$88 millionImprovements to the west end of US 83 near La Hoya (appears to be non-freeway)
$76 millionIH 410, widen to 8 main lines in Northwest San Antonio

 
www.DFWFreeways.com
www.HoustonFreeways.com

Road Hog

The US 75 project north of McKinney is already well under way. Is this just more funding for an existing project, or are they going to extend the construction another four miles?

MaxConcrete

The funded project is from Melissa Road northward to FM 455 in Anna. I just happened to be in that area yesterday and I can verify that this is a new project (there is no work in progress on that section).
www.DFWFreeways.com
www.HoustonFreeways.com



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