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[motorola870]

While I would like to see it happen, I'm not going to hold my breath for I-45 to get signed North of downtown Dallas all the way up to the Red River (and potentially farther into Oklahoma once Interstate quality upgrades are complete from the river to US-70 in Durant). Texas has been inconsistent at best with applying for Interstate designations to newly built freeways, toll roads and extensions of existing freeways. The I-14 and I-69 efforts are the only exceptions, and those are tied to larger multi-state corridor efforts.

US-75 is going to be brought up 100% to modern Interstate quality standards from Dallas to the Red River. The US-75/US-69 corridor will continue to get Interstate quality upgrades (slowly) along spot segments in Oklahoma in response to very heavy traffic from commercial trucks and other long distance traffic bypassing OKC and Tulsa to get to points Northeast. If TX DOT chooses to extend the I-45 designation Northward I'll bet they won't do it until the I-345 situation in downtown Dallas is resolved. If the solution is replacing the existing elevated freeway with one in a trench (capped or not) that project would hold up any extension of I-45 on North until the project is finished.

There again TXDOT has gone on record with grayson county officials about this and words were thrown around that it is intended to get interstate status and I don't they would mention reasons for an interstate if it was not planned and two they don't have to wait to resign 345 as 45 heck to be honest do it now to shut up these people trying to parrot a reason to destroy it so a few can pocket off of state owned right of way which to be honest if they keep any future plans in the same row that TXDOT owns Dallas cannot say a word on how it is done other than give ideas.

[Bobby5280]

Are there any news articles in print where representatives from TX DOT are going on the record saying the US-75 freeway from North Dallas up to the Red River will be designated as an Interstate (particularly I-45)? I haven't searched high and low for such official word, assuming no official decision had been made on it yet.

Neverthless, I always wondered if/when US-75 going North out of Dallas would receive an Interstate designation. That goes back to the mid 1990's when the old 55mph national speed limit was tossed. For a short period the 55mph limit was lifted only on Interstate highways. As least that's how it looked in Oklahoma and Texas. Yet US-75 North of Dallas was among the freeways whose speed limit was lifted (as high as 75mph if I recall correctly).

Regarding the designation of I-45 across existing I-345 as a means to head-off the "new urbanists" and their drive to remove the elevated freeway, it sounds like a good idea. If the decision was up to me I would do it in a heart beat.

I've had my own suspicions about who is really behind the efforts to tear down the elevated freeway. I can't help but wonder if some connected real estate developers are working behind the scenes to tear down unsigned I-345. The motivation is very obvious: remove the freeway and then develop all that vacated land into office towers and luxury apartments. If the real estate folks do confirm my conspiracy theory I hope they realize all those big freeways that canvas the greater DFW metroplex have helped that region grow. Severing what should become a longer I-45 would seriously harm the freeway system functions in downtown Dallas, if not farther out from downtown.

[J N Winkler]

Neverthless, I always wondered if/when US-75 going North out of Dallas would receive an Interstate designation. That goes back to the mid 1990's when the old 55mph national speed limit was tossed. For a short period the 55mph limit was lifted only on Interstate highways. At least that's how it looked in Oklahoma and Texas. Yet US-75 North of Dallas was among the freeways whose speed limit was lifted (as high as 75mph if I recall correctly).

My recollection is that when the double-nickel limit was relaxed to permit 65 on rural freeways, this resulted in some state-route or unnumbered freeways (e.g. Illinois SR 5, Kansas Turnpike between Emporia and Topeka) being made Interstates so they could be given 65 limits; later this was relaxed to allow 65 on non-Interstate rural freeways.  Limits above 65 did not return to Texas until the NMSL was finally abolished by the NHSDA in 1996, and initially 70 was the top limit.  75 and higher limits came later.

[motorola870]

Are there any news articles in print where representatives from TX DOT are going on the record saying the US-75 freeway from North Dallas up to the Red River will be designated as an Interstate (particularly I-45)? I haven't searched high and low for such official word, assuming no official decision had been made on it yet.

Neverthless, I always wondered if/when US-75 going North out of Dallas would receive an Interstate designation. That goes back to the mid 1990's when the old 55mph national speed limit was tossed. For a short period the 55mph limit was lifted only on Interstate highways. As least that's how it looked in Oklahoma and Texas. Yet US-75 North of Dallas was among the freeways whose speed limit was lifted (as high as 75mph if I recall correctly).

Regarding the designation of I-45 across existing I-345 as a means to head-off the "new urbanists" and their drive to remove the elevated freeway, it sounds like a good idea. If the decision was up to me I would do it in a heart beat.

I've had my own suspicions about who is really behind the efforts to tear down the elevated freeway. I can't help but wonder if some connected real estate developers are working behind the scenes to tear down unsigned I-345. The motivation is very obvious: remove the freeway and then develop all that vacated land into office towers and luxury apartments. If the real estate folks do confirm my conspiracy theory I hope they realize all those big freeways that canvas the greater DFW metroplex have helped that region grow. Severing what should become a longer I-45 would seriously harm the freeway system functions in downtown Dallas, if not farther out from downtown.

It is obvious they want to build condos and bars with music venues there it is on the edge of deep ellum they want to cash in and think that saying Dallas doesn't need 345 is a lie. It is a through route. People take it from Houston up to Tulsa not stopping in Dallas. Do we really need to bend the freeway onto 30 and back around on woodall rogers so a few people can cash in just like this deck park project in houston is nonsense and the replacement is a no brainer and TXDOT fell for that sham.

[In_Correct]

That is their intentions. They like to make up other excuses ...

...

... such as more people should ride transit.

There are many times that when I can I want to ride transit so I do not have to worry about drunk drivers or speeding or waiting through road construction. If The Bullet Train ever opens, I will ride it. ...

...

... However, New Urbanists do not really care about that. Transit (Including DART) can be improved without demolishing roads. New Urbanists want it to be Trending. Also whenever they decide the buildings they built are "ugly" they will demolish them also. ...

...

... TX DOT Needs to keep the "extra" land for for its own development of lane expansions, deck parks, and perhaps frontage road parks.

[Bobby5280]

As I've said before, many businesses in the downtown Dallas area (including all the night spots in Deep Ellum) depend greatly on visitors who live well outside that area. Not everyone who works in all those tall office towers takes the DART train to work; plenty of them drive. Venues like Fair Park and the American Airlines Area draw huge numbers of people. I-35, I-30, I-45, The Woodall Rogers Freeway, North Central Expressway and Unsigned I-345 are all vital connections for moving those people to and from downtown. If the New Urbanists start removing major segments of the freeway network downtown it will kill business.

Traffic in downtown Dallas is bad enough as it is. Removing Unsigned I-345 would make matters even worse for motorists. Obviously that's part of the New Urbanist game plan, make driving so intolerable that it forces people onto mass transit. That strategy will not work. It will backfire.

Without a properly functional freeway network the people out in the suburbs will end up just avoiding downtown completely, spending all their time and money out there in the suburbs. There's lots of other places of interest in the Dallas Fort Worth area. I've made many road trips to DFW without coming near the downtown zone. As for the many thousands of people who work downtown, their situations may change if commuting to/from downtown becomes too much of a hassle. A lot of major companies have built large offices out in suburban campus style environments rather than the old convention of moving into a downtown office tower. Legacy Drive in Plano was an early example of this trend. Improving technology and Internet speeds are making "telecommuting" and home office setups more feasible.

In short: if the anti-freeway folks are able to start ripping out freeways in downtown Dallas they'll inflict a big economic downturn upon the downtown area.

[bugo]

I hope none of these people have any ambitions to remove I-30 on the East side of downtown. That would be a whole lot worse than removing I-345 (which should not be done either).

One has to be delusional to think that the road-haters will be satisfied by just tearing down this highway. Their endgame is the removal of all freeways from downtown Dallas.