I-35 and I-35E North Texas bid openings

[wxfree]

I found this on Facebook.  The topic is flooding in the Red River, but it shows recent progress on construction.  It shows in February a new bridge.  It appears to be a temporary bridge to support construction activity, as it's too low, too narrow, and straight.  It also shows the reshaping of the ground in preparation for the freeway.  The second half of the video is from 3 days ago.  No new information is visible due to the flooding, but the debris in the river appears to be caught on the new bridge.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=699963945902545

[MaxConcrete]

Bids were opened today for a short section of I-35E in Denton at Mayhill (State School) Road.

The plans show 3x3 main lanes, but an expansion of the corridor with a median around 140 feet wide, presumably for a future phase. However, the transition zones on each end suggest the wide median won't continue on adjacent sections.

Estimate: $147.3 million
Low bid: Zachry construction, $123.5 million

[MaxConcrete]

Bids were opened today for a 2.5 mile section north of Sanger, from 5th street to View Road.

Plans show 3x3 main lanes with a 24-foot-wide median, and a widened corridor, generally around 400 feet wide.

Estimate: $167.6 million
Winning bid: $128.7 million by Indus Road and Bridge, 23.2% below estimate.

Good news: a low bid substantially below the estimate.

[bwana39]

To me the issue is I-35W more than 35E. 35 W goes from 2 ML, 2 HOV, and 2 frontage each direction at the Tarrant / Denton County line to 2x 2 with neither frontage or hov.

The focus seems to be 35E and points north.

[Bobby5280]

I-35E has its own issues (immense traffic counts, existing skinny 11' lanes and a need to upgrade the reversible HOV/express lanes into separate HOV/express lanes for Northbound and Southbound traffic). Lots of highways in the DFW area are in continual need of upgrading.

With that being said, I don't like the 2x2x2x2 arrangements on I-35W and I-820 in the Fort Worth area. That crap is ridiculous. I think a freeway should have at least 3 or more free lanes in both directions before tolled express lanes start getting added. The single lane express lanes on several roads in the metroplex also suck.

[BJ59]

To me the issue is I-35W more than 35E. 35 W goes from 2 ML, 2 HOV, and 2 frontage each direction at the Tarrant / Denton County line to 2x 2 with neither frontage or hov.

The focus seems to be 35E and points north.

I haven't seen any congestion problems where the express lanes end at the Tarrant/Denton County line, but I'm sure as development continues it will become a bottleneck area in the future.

However, I agree that something needs to be done for I-35W in Denton County, especially for the interchanges in Denton County. The interchanges at SH-114, FM-407, and Crawford Rd are way too small for the amount of cars that travel those roads everyday. I'm sure that the Fm-1171 and FM-2449 interchanges will become worse in the future as well. Those interchanges need to be completely reconfigured, and while they're at it they might as well add mainlanes/express lanes for I-35W all the way up to Denton

[bwana39]

To me the issue is I-35W more than 35E. 35 W goes from 2 ML, 2 HOV, and 2 frontage each direction at the Tarrant / Denton County line to 2x 2 with neither frontage or hov.

The focus seems to be 35E and points north.

I haven't seen any congestion problems where the express lanes end at the Tarrant/Denton County line, but I'm sure as development continues it will become a bottleneck area in the future.

However, I agree that something needs to be done for I-35W in Denton County, especially for the interchanges in Denton County. The interchanges at SH-114, FM-407, and Crawford Rd are way too small for the amount of cars that travel those roads everyday. I'm sure that the Fm-1171 and FM-2449 interchanges will become worse in the future as well. Those interchanges need to be completely reconfigured, and while they're at it they might as well add mainlanes/express lanes for I-35W all the way up to Denton

Tuesday of this week it was terrible. Not sure it does it all of the time, but.....

Traffic in the TexPress Lanes was at 70 then the merge and nearly an hour to get to 35E. Even with the construction, it seemed fine past the merger.

[BJ59]

To me the issue is I-35W more than 35E. 35 W goes from 2 ML, 2 HOV, and 2 frontage each direction at the Tarrant / Denton County line to 2x 2 with neither frontage or hov.

The focus seems to be 35E and points north.

I haven't seen any congestion problems where the express lanes end at the Tarrant/Denton County line, but I'm sure as development continues it will become a bottleneck area in the future.

However, I agree that something needs to be done for I-35W in Denton County, especially for the interchanges in Denton County. The interchanges at SH-114, FM-407, and Crawford Rd are way too small for the amount of cars that travel those roads everyday. I'm sure that the Fm-1171 and FM-2449 interchanges will become worse in the future as well. Those interchanges need to be completely reconfigured, and while they're at it they might as well add mainlanes/express lanes for I-35W all the way up to Denton

Tuesday of this week it was terrible. Not sure it does it all of the time, but.....

Traffic in the TexPress Lanes was at 70 then the merge and nearly an hour to get to 35E. Even with the construction, it seemed fine past the merger.

Oh wow. I guess I haven't passed through that area during bad rush hour.

In the design schematics for the I-35E and I-35W interchange in Denton, I've seen that they include the merging of the I-35E Texpress Lanes and the I-35W Texpress Lanes. So I'm guessing that they are planning to expand the express lanes from Tarrant County all the way up to Denton eventually. Hopefully that would help that problem in the Alliance area, although it would probably create another bottleneck up in Denton.

[Bobby5280]

However, I agree that something needs to be done for I-35W in Denton County, especially for the interchanges in Denton County. The interchanges at SH-114, FM-407, and Crawford Rd are way too small for the amount of cars that travel those roads everyday.

The I-35W/TX-114 interchange is long overdue to be turned into a 5-level directional stack interchange. That's even with the TX-114 freeway not yet being built through the interchange.

The amount of new commercial development that gone up in that area during the past 10-20 years is pretty staggering. It's not just Texas Motor Speedway, Buc-ee's and the outlet mall on the corners of the interchange. There's all the housing developments nearby. A shit-ton of giant logistical warehouses have been built right there. Not only does I-35W need serious widening thru that zone, but TX-114 needs to be upgraded to Interstate quality out to the US-287 interchange in Rhome.