DFW Projects Thread

[armadillo speedbump]

The 170 freeway was open westbound today from west of US 377 (Roanoke) to I-35W.  Eastbound traffic was still on the feeder road but will surely open soon.  The wb to sb direct connector was also open.

In contrast, the TXDOT Hwy 156 (Blue Mound Road) project from US 287 to almost I-820 doesn't seem to have made any visible progress since before Thanksgiving.  The widening has looked complete for the entire length but there are still cones closing off 1 of the 2 lanes each way.  It appears they will wait to open those lanes until the replacement traffic signals changeover is complete.  Which seems stupid to keep everyone stuck in 1 lane traffic, backed up most of the day during the week.  I don't recall noticing changes to or new movements that the existing signals wouldn't have already been handling.

Actually there was 1 change I noticed.  They finally wised up and moved the cones over just enough to form a (short) right turn lane northbound at the Harmon Rd light.  How about just move all the damn cones the entire length (and there's a right turn lane already built, but it was coned off, too).  They can always temporarily block a lane on the very rare days that they need to do some more work.

I'd guess that perhaps the good weather allowed most of the contractors to finish early, but we're creeping up on 4 months now of appearing to be finished.   This is one of those infuriating projects that feels like it has taken forever, with only occasional spurts of work.  Probably budgeted a little bit here a little there each year.  There is a long bridge over flood prone areas/maybe wetlands, but nothing else really complex.

Back to good news, the Alliance HEB on Heritage Trace Pkwy east of I-35W is looking mostly complete.  I'd guess they'll meet their Spring 2024 opening goal.

Construction work to add a 3rd free lane is now visible on I-820 between 121 and I-35W. Once complete the 3rd lane will make a huge difference.

It sure is nice to drive I-35W again now that the work north of I-820 is complete (I've only gone as far north as Westport).  Still some backups sb at the 287 merge, but nothing like the cattle chute runs during construction.  I would not be surprised if at the next measuring date they meet the traffic threshold to trigger adding a 3rd free lane, just like what happened with I-820.

That weird 3rd lane each way on 121 north of 183 in Euless, that had the green or red x and restricted use to just a few hours a day (which most ignored) seems to have been converted to a regular lane now.  There are signs stating it is open for use and they restriped the segment where that extra left lane ended and the right lane from the Industrial on ramp began, eliminating that ridiculous forced lane shift.  Now it's striped to flow all the way as a normal fwy.  I never heard the actual story of why it was originally built so stupidly.  I'd guess a stipulation inside some fed funding restricting its use to rush hour or some such nonsense, maybe an HOV lane but I don't recall that.

[Chris]

The 170 freeway was open westbound today from west of US 377 (Roanoke) to I-35W.  Eastbound traffic was still on the feeder road but will surely open soon.  The wb to sb direct connector was also open.

So this news release is not correct?

https://www.trophyclub.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=685

Weather permitting, the new main lanes of State Highway 170 between Old Denton Road and State Highway 114 are scheduled to open to traffic on Tuesday, February 6th, 2024. Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), with available funding at the time, constructed an interim project consisting of operational improvements and discontinuous main lanes in three segments.  As that interim project was wrapping up last summer, additional funding became available that allowed TxDOT to complete the ultimate configuration to fill the gaps between these segments and provide continuous main lanes for the entire 6 miles of SH 170 from I-35W to SH 114.

OpenStreetMap also doesn't have the eastbound main lanes open.

[BJ59]

The 170 freeway was open westbound today from west of US 377 (Roanoke) to I-35W.  Eastbound traffic was still on the feeder road but will surely open soon.  The wb to sb direct connector was also open.

I was just about to ask when the 170 project would be finished. Thanks for the update.

It sure is nice to drive I-35W again now that the work north of I-820 is complete (I've only gone as far north as Westport).  Still some backups sb at the 287 merge, but nothing like the cattle chute runs during construction.  I would not be surprised if at the next measuring date they meet the traffic threshold to trigger adding a 3rd free lane, just like what happened with I-820.

It says on the TxDOT website that the I-35W corridor north of Fort Worth can be expanded up to 8 mainlanes and 6 Texpress Lanes.
"TxDOT has environmentally cleared I-35W from I-30 to Eagle Parkway to ultimately widen the corridor up to eight mainlanes plus up to six TEXpress
Lanes for future traffic volumes."

I find this hard to believe. I think at max they can expand to 6 mainlanes and 4 Texpress Lanes. Any of yall have an opinion?

[MaxConcrete]

It says on the TxDOT website that the I-35W corridor north of Fort Worth can be expanded up to 8 mainlanes and 6 Texpress Lanes.
"TxDOT has environmentally cleared I-35W from I-30 to Eagle Parkway to ultimately widen the corridor up to eight mainlanes plus up to six TEXpress
Lanes for future traffic volumes."

I find this hard to believe. I think at max they can expand to 6 mainlanes and 4 Texpress Lanes. Any of yall have an opinion?

I don't have time to search for that TxDOT page to study the context. My understanding of the ultimate plan is 8 main lanes between downtown Fort Worth and the US 287 split. Currently it has 4 main lanes. North of US 287, my understanding is 6 main lanes. For Texpress lanes, my understanding is a maximum of 4 lanes, which already exist.

I agree with you that the statement almost surely is not accurate for that section of I-35W. The only freeway designed for 6 Texpress lanes is US 183/SH 121 from Loop 820 to the SH 121 split.

So it sounds like the statement you found mentions the maximum number of lanes anywhere on the Texpress system, but none of the sections are designed to have 8 main lanes and 6 Texpress lanes.

[BJ59]

Most of the new ramps of the Loop 12 / SH-183 interchange have recently opened. I do not know if all have been completed but here is a list of the ones that I saw traffic on:

-SH-183 Eastbound to Loop 12 Southbound Ramp

-Loop 12 Northbound to SH-183 Westbound Ramp

-Spur 482 Westbound to SH-183 Westbound / Loop 12 Southbound

[Chris]

That is just a mind-boggling improvement from its original configuration.

[-- US 175 --]

That is just a mind-boggling improvement from its original configuration.

Wow, I'm pleasantly surprised.  An amazing difference.  I guess I'll have to get out there sometime soon.

[Bobby5280]

The new stack interchange and other alterations made to I-30 and TX-360 will make it quite a bit easier to get in and out of the Six Flags amusement park. 20 years ago motorists needed to keep aware of where the exit ramps were located, otherwise they might be driving miles to make a turn-around approach. Now the frontage roads are more logically designed and exit ramps are set in more logical locations. For instance, the EB I-30 exit ramp for Six Flags is much closer to the park; previously the ramp was nearly half a mile West of Ballpark Way. The ramp was not difficult to miss. Another exit ramp was just east of the TX-360 overpass, but that would land you in a big traffic intersection under TX-360. I'm happy TX DOT remedied that mess.