I happened to look at an aerial map of the Crowley/Burleson TX area and noticed Crowley Plover Rd has several wide median intersections and a lot of space at its interchange with I-35. Are there (or were there) future plans for this to be a freeway?
Link:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/H3NV2my632YHhZFM8?g_st=ic
Also that the intersection with Chisholm Trail Parkway Crowley Rd has lot of space under the tollway. Like if was supposed to go under or have wide frontage roads.
As cool as that would've been to have a freeway along that particular alignment, I really don't see it being very practical to have one, especially when it goes through a mix of shopping centers and residential subdivisions. As a superstreet, Crowley Plover Road does a great job of handling the traffic flow.
The road is wide enough at certain points for future lanes, and not at other points. Sometimes in the right of way maps they draw the planned future road, beyond the initial stage of construction. In this map, you see evident main lane grade separations and U turns above or below. In other areas, it just shows a divided at-grade highway. These maps are not final plans, but they give a sense of what they had in mind when they acquired the land.
https://maps.dot.state.tx.us/ROW_PDF/FTW133001AD.pdf
The right of way maps can be accessed at:
https://maps.dot.state.tx.us/AGO_Template/TxDOT_Viewer/?appid=6e6821ecba51466789de423165516843
Maybe this is me, but whenever I see Texas U-turns on a surface road, that screams "future freeway." There are plenty of roads in Texas with large medians that are never being turned into freeways, but I'm struggling to think of one with Texas U-turns that is not intended to eventually be one.
Same for me. Whenever I see Texas U Turns, I have a sense of a grade separated highway cutting through.
There are numerous examples of those kinds of freeway-ready intersections throughout Texas. The ones along Crowley Plover Road were built 20 years ago. It looks like they were built as a start of a long term plan that just didn't get completed. Development swallowed up other areas along the road before ROW could be secured. They could still build main lane bridges over the 4 intersections to allow thru traffic on Crowley Plover Road to move more efficiently.
Quote from: Bobby5280 on April 30, 2025, 10:29:21 PMThere are numerous examples of those kinds of freeway-ready intersections throughout Texas. The ones along Crowley Plover Road were built 20 years ago. It looks like they were built as a start of a long term plan that just didn't get completed. Development swallowed up other areas along the road before ROW could be secured. They could still build main lane bridges over the 4 intersections to allow thru traffic on Crowley Plover Road to move more efficiently.
It could be built as a Texas-styled "Jersey freeway", like US 90 ALT in suburban Houston, with RIRO access in-between interchanges with major crossroads.
moto g power (2022)
I'm not a big fan of Jersey Freeways, be it US-1 between Trenton and New Brunswick or US-90A on Houston's West side. People will drive on those things as if they're full-blown freeways even though they're not.
US-90A has a 55mph speed limit, but many motorists go faster. That can be a big problem when other vehicles are making hard turns into the highway from side streets and driveways. Similar conflicts happen when vehicles have to slow to a near stop to turn off the highway into a driveway or side street. The shoulder on portions of US-90A double as a dotted turning lane. But that doesn't stop some jackass from making hard turns into or off the highway from the actual right lane.
Quote from: CoreySamson on April 30, 2025, 04:57:16 PMMaybe this is me, but whenever I see Texas U-turns on a surface road, that screams "future freeway." There are plenty of roads in Texas with large medians that are never being turned into freeways, but I'm struggling to think of one with Texas U-turns that is not intended to eventually be one.
I found two examples in Plano. The first here is the intersection between Preston Road (SH-289) and Legacy Drive. This one could make sense for an overpass interchange since Preston is a major artery in the North Dallas suburbs.
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.070905,-96.7965662,18.29z?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQyOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
The second, also in Plano, is the intersection between Spring Creek Parkway and Coit Road. This intersection makes less sense to me why it would need an overpass because although these are local thoroughfares, they are not part of the state highway network.
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.056484,-96.7700407,17.46z?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQyOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
Both of these intersections seem to have space for overpasses and have existing texas turnarounds.
In North Texas some cities originally intended to overpasses in there local roads back in the days when road funding as a heavy topic due to huge roads bonds.