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Texas

Started by roadman65, October 03, 2013, 08:59:18 AM

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rte66man

Quote from: bwana39 on March 26, 2023, 10:39:02 PM
Quote from: rte66man on March 26, 2023, 09:33:45 AM
Quote from: Road Hog on March 24, 2023, 03:18:21 AM
TxDOT loves them some one-lane bridges with traffic signals on FM roads.

i remember when there were 3 at one time on FM 455 in Collin County. Right now there are 2 in Denton County on the same road, and at least one on FM 428 in the ETJ of Aubrey.

How busy is FM455? If it's not too busy, it is WAY cheaper to do one lane at a time with traffic signals than to build a shoofly to maintain traffic in both directions.

Texas has virtually never built shoo-fly detours around non-urban (urban defined Primarily as the 500K + metro areas.) Traditionally they would build the bridge on an immediately adjacent bypass alignment like the one in the link below.

https://goo.gl/maps/9zbTNahN6y8J4aMv8

It created curves and required purchase of additional R.O.W.

Come to think of it, ODOT seems to make that decision depending on the span of the bridge as well as whether the overall alignment of the roadway can be improved by locating a new bridge on a new alignment.
When you come to a fork in the road... TAKE IT.

                                                               -Yogi Berra


Bobby5280

Yeah, there is quite a few one lane bridges that carry section line roads over Interstates here.

bwana39

Quote from: rte66man on March 27, 2023, 10:02:57 AM
Quote from: bwana39 on March 26, 2023, 10:39:02 PM
Quote from: rte66man on March 26, 2023, 09:33:45 AM
Quote from: Road Hog on March 24, 2023, 03:18:21 AM
TxDOT loves them some one-lane bridges with traffic signals on FM roads.

i remember when there were 3 at one time on FM 455 in Collin County. Right now there are 2 in Denton County on the same road, and at least one on FM 428 in the ETJ of Aubrey.

How busy is FM455? If it's not too busy, it is WAY cheaper to do one lane at a time with traffic signals than to build a shoofly to maintain traffic in both directions.

Texas has virtually never built shoo-fly detours around non-urban (urban defined Primarily as the 500K + metro areas.) Traditionally they would build the bridge on an immediately adjacent bypass alignment like the one in the link below.

https://goo.gl/maps/9zbTNahN6y8J4aMv8

It created curves and required purchase of additional R.O.W.

Come to think of it, ODOT seems to make that decision depending on the span of the bridge as well as whether the overall alignment of the roadway can be improved by locating a new bridge on a new alignment.

Generally, the ones Texas has done has had curves on both ends, some more egregious than others. The one-lane thing allows them to keep straighter geometry and does not usually require additional R.O.W.
Let's build what we need as economically as possible.

roadman65

Found out this interesting tid bit. The goal post in Texas used for shield assemblies is used for other signs as well.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/54480415@N08/52787226005
Looks like a mileage sign mooring using it.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

wxfree

Quote from: Brian556 on November 08, 2022, 10:02:55 PM
Near Blum, Texas, SH 174 bridge over the Brazos River down to one lane with traffic signals long term. News article from 2020 says that is when it started. Looks like it was done due to inadequate lane width. Bridge was built in 1950. Has to be a massive PITA for drivers. Bridge to be replaced soon.

News Article from 2020: https://www.kxxv.com/one-direction-of-travel-for-sh-174-bridge

The replacement bridge is now being built.  There are some columns up and the approach embankments are being built.  The old bridge was getting beaten up by heavy trucks passing over at high speeds.  The new bridge will have 10 foot shoulders and will be of much more sturdy construction.
I'd like to buy a vowel, Alex.  What is E?

kernals12

New funding stream for highways just dropped

QuoteTexas Governor Greg Abbott recently signed an electric vehicle tax into law.

The new bill, Senate Bill 505, requires $400 to register an electric vehicle along with other fees. Renewing registration will cost electric vehicle owners $200.

While the new tax will not apply to electric motorcycles, mopeds, or autocycles, the fee intends to ensure electric vehicle owners are paying highway costs that owners of gas-fueled vehicles pay for in a 20 cent-per-gallon gas tax.

Owners of gas-fueled vehicles pay an average of $130 in state gas taxes every year according to a report from the Dallas Morning News. This tax, plus the new electric vehicle tax are dedicated to the state highway fund.

With more than 30,000 new electric vehicles being added to the state roads this year, the new electric vehicle tax will generate approximately $38 million for the state highway fund, with gas and diesel to provide an estimated $3.8 billion in revenue for Texas in 2024.

The new electric vehicle tax goes into effect September 1, 2023.


Plutonic Panda

Article discussing a few projects happening around Texas. One of them is the Amarillo loop. It's going to be pretty surreal driving through Amarillo one day and seeing two 4-5 stack interchanges along I-40.

https://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/txdot-awards-webber-264m-for-three-highway-projects/61398

Stephane Dumas

Quote from: Plutonic Panda on June 14, 2023, 09:28:53 AM
Article discussing a few projects happening around Texas. One of them is the Amarillo loop. It's going to be pretty surreal driving through Amarillo one day and seeing two 4-5 stack interchanges along I-40.

https://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/txdot-awards-webber-264m-for-three-highway-projects/61398

I wonder if we would see 1 or 2 4-5 stack interchange along I-20 at Midland-Odessa as well?

And Texashighwayman posted some historic photos of US-281 before it was upgraded to freeway north of Loop-1604.
https://www.texashighwayman.com/historical/us281n1604.shtml

kphoger

I've driven through Wichita Falls probably ten times, and it still amazes me to see the four-level interchange there.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

Bobby5280

The one in Wichita Falls does seem pretty epic for what is really just a "Y" interchange. I don't know why, but that single lane flyover ramp from EB Kell Freeway to EB I-44 makes me feel a little queasy when driving on it.

As for Amarillo, I have a strong feeling TX DOT will take their time building the two I-40/Loop 335 directional stacks. I figure they'll get the main lanes of Loop 335 built first and then slowly phase in the flyover ramps at the two interchanges. Obviously the stack on the West side of Amarillo will be a greater priority. The one on the East side of town could be stuck for many years as a volleyball interchange.

And it looks like TX DOT or the City of Amarillo really blew it with the I-27/Loop 335 interchange. It looks like new properties are getting built right up into the corners of the existing volleyball interchange.

kphoger

Quote from: Bobby5280 on June 14, 2023, 10:40:00 PM
The one in Wichita Falls does seem pretty epic for what is really just a "Y" interchange. I don't know why, but that single lane flyover ramp from EB Kell Freeway to EB I-44 makes me feel a little queasy when driving on it.

It made me a little queasy the first several times I drove it too, but I've finally gotten used to it.

My favorite fact about that US-277 → I-44 transition is this:  After you come down from that super-high ramp, just STAY IN THAT LANE.  You'll pass by a bunch of on-ramps and off-ramps, added lanes and lane drops.  People will be jockeying for position all around you.  But your lane will eventually just become the right lane of I-44.  No need to move out of it at all.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

Stephane Dumas

Quote from: Bobby5280 on June 14, 2023, 10:40:00 PM
The one in Wichita Falls does seem pretty epic for what is really just a "Y" interchange. I don't know why, but that single lane flyover ramp from EB Kell Freeway to EB I-44 makes me feel a little queasy when driving on it.

A "Y" interchange who was once set for more bigger plans from what we see on these satellite shots. https://goo.gl/maps/F2nw7rwiasXBPjrE7 I guess lack of funds or protests have cancelled that project.

Bobby5280

Yeah, Spur 447 was planned long ago as a freeway from the Kell Freeway/US-287 interchange out of the NE side of Wichita Falls. The city couldn't get all the ROW needed for the project. Four blocks to the East of the interchange were cleared decades ago the same time as all the other property was cleared for Kell Freeway. A freeway-like bridge was built over the BNSF railroad tracks on the East side of downtown.

Failure to secure the ROW needed near downtown as well as on the other side of the rail line forced them to abandon the Spur 447 freeway project. There appears to be zero hopes of reviving it either. The flyover ramps at the East end of Kell Freeway don't have any stubs for adding flyover ramps to make the interchange a full stack.

bing101


Here is a tour of TX-225 Pasadena Freeway in the Houston area.



bwana39

Quote from: bing101 on June 18, 2023, 12:28:12 PM

Here is a tour of TX-225 Pasadena Freeway in the Houston area.




Just being a pain.  The caption says Pasadena Freeway, Houston Texas. There is no such animal. It is the LaPorte Freeway from I-610 to the Pasadena City Limits (The part actually in Houston.) Then after it leaves Pasadena to the east it resumes the Name LaPorte Freeway.
As far as that goes, it is sometimes referred colloquially  as LaPorte in Pasadena as well.  It was ALL  LaPorte road before the freeway was built.

Bing, I will give you you did say" Houston Area"
Let's build what we need as economically as possible.

Chris

Quote from: Bobby5280 on June 16, 2023, 11:31:11 AM
Yeah, Spur 447 was planned long ago as a freeway from the Kell Freeway/US-287 interchange out of the NE side of Wichita Falls. The city couldn't get all the ROW needed for the project. Four blocks to the East of the interchange were cleared decades ago the same time as all the other property was cleared for Kell Freeway. A freeway-like bridge was built over the BNSF railroad tracks on the East side of downtown.

Failure to secure the ROW needed near downtown as well as on the other side of the rail line forced them to abandon the Spur 447 freeway project. There appears to be zero hopes of reviving it either. The flyover ramps at the East end of Kell Freeway don't have any stubs for adding flyover ramps to make the interchange a full stack.

Spur 447 was designated in 1967. Maybe the overpasses at the railroad opened around that time?

https://www.dot.state.tx.us/tpp/hwy/ss/ss0447.htm

The flyover ramps of the Kell Freeway are much newer though, built around 2006-2008 according to Google Earth.

The low traffic volumes past that interchange probably don't warrant a freeway extension to the Spur 447 bridges over the railroad. The traffic counts on Kell Boulevard are 6,600 - 11,000 vehicles per day.




Bobby5280

The "Y" interchange flyover ramps connecting Kell Freeway and US-287 were added not long after the US-287 elevated viaducts were built over Holliday and Broad Streets.

Current vehicle counts on Spur 447 don't justify a new freeway at all. But those low counts also reflect Spur 447 being a "failed" freeway corridor. Anyone wanting to drive NE from downtown Wichita Falls to towns like Petrolia or Waurika will drive a little farther East on US-287 to pick up the short TX-79 freeway spur.

Plutonic Panda


Bobby5280

It's too bad the article doesn't get much into specifics where in the Permian Basin the spending will occur (other than mentions of the I-20 and US-285 corridors). ODOT announced $9 billion in spending for roads across Oklahoma; the agency allowed a more "deep dive" into state projects on its web site. Of course, not much is happening in my part of the state. We'll get a few "safety improvements" on Rogers Lane, but nothing real big. I digress.

$4.3 billion is some serious money. I wonder how much will go into improvements for the Ports to Plains Corridor, aka Future I-27.

DJStephens

#169
A complete reconstruction of I-20 is sorely needed in the Odessa / Midland immediate city environs for sure.   Antiquated four lane alignment from sixties still largely extant, complete with inadequate capacity (needs six laning) poor shoulders, and "merge or die" on ramps.   
Work done in more recent years on US - 285 heading NNW out of Pecos, TX has been terrible, as was the "chicken scratching" done on FM - 652.    A "three lane poor boy" are you kidding?!  Referring to US 285.  With all the heavy trucking, they desire to continue to have chances of head on collisions continue?!

MaxConcrete

Quote from: Plutonic Panda on October 05, 2023, 10:09:05 AM
Billions in road upgrades coming to the Permian basin area:

https://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/txdot-devotes-43-billion-to-permian-basin-upgrades/62653

Bids were opened today to rebuild and expand a 5 mile section of I-20 between Odessa and Midland to 3x3. The limits are from just west of Loop 338 (east side of Odessa) eastward 5 miles, to a point about 1.5 miles west of FM 1788.

http://www.dot.state.tx.us/insdtdot/orgchart/cmd/cserve/bidtab/11023201.htm

County:   ECTOR   Let Date:   11/02/23
Type:   WIDEN ROAD - ADD LANES   Seq No:   3201
Time:   0 X   Project ID:   F 2022(634)
Highway:   IH 20   Contract #:   11233201
Length:   10.402   CCSJ:   0005-13-064
Limits:   
From:   EAST OF JBS PARKWAY   Check:   $100,000
To:   MIDLAND COUNTY LINE   Misc Cost:   
Estimate   $284,174,507.74   % Over/Under   Company
Bidder 1   $260,876,639.92   -8.20%   SUNDT CONSTRUCTION, INC.
Bidder 2   $272,817,245.95   -4.00%   JAMES CONSTRUCTION GROUP, LLC
Bidder 3   $299,992,051.72   +5.57%   WEBBER, LLC
Bidder 4   $338,646,883.57   +19.17%   PULICE CONSTRUCTION, INC.
Bidder 5   $346,826,743.95   +22.05%   FNF CONSTRUCTION, INC.
www.DFWFreeways.com
www.HoustonFreeways.com

Bobby5280

At least that'll be a start. Hopefully they can eventually give all of I-20 in the Midland-Odessa area the 3x3 treatment. It's too bad not much can be done to beautify the view of Midland-Odessa from I-20. Just a bunch of metal industrial buildings and related stuff the whole way. The nicer parts are on the Northern fringes of the metro.

TheBox

Wake me up when they upgrade US-290 between the state's largest city and growing capital into expressway standards if it interstate standards.

Giddings bypass, Elgin bypass, and Elgin-Manor freeway/tollway when?

Quillz

#173
I'm spending the weekend in the Ft. Worth/Dallas area.

So were Texas state highways just assigned as they were created? Seems to be zero logic as to how state highways get their numbers. Not based on directionality, doesn't appear to be any pattern. There is obviously duplication (which doesn't bother me), although it seems using the exact same shield for the various types of highways (state, loops, spurs, farm-to-market, all of which can have duplicated numbers) seems like it would create confusion. (I'm referring to how they are on BGS, I know farm-to-market roads have a different shield.)

I also noticed how on BGS, the state highway markers put "TEXAS" above the number, but on the shields, the state name is below the number. Seems this was done to create consistency in how markers are shown on BGS.

Bobby5280

TX DOT has their own way of doing things. I can't complain too much since, overall, their BGS designs are much better than most states. Here in Oklahoma it's just embarrassing. At least Oklahoma's highway signs don't like patched over and hammered junk like Caltrans' stuff. I really don't care about the Clearview vs Series Gothic issue; Clearview is usually handled pretty well on Texas BGS panels.

Yeah, the route numbering scheme in Texas doesn't appear to follow any kind of system. I imagine that's because the state is so big and has evolved economically in dramatic ways. It would be difficult crafting a route numbering system that could adapt to those shifts over the decades.



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