A road construction project in northwest Tarrant County is designed to help ease the growing pains in the area.
The U.S. 81/U.S. 287 corridor is exploding with new single-family home subdivisions, apartment complexes, and commercial development - and that doesn't even include the 10,000 home development going up in Rhome starting later this year.
Cassie Knight of Rhome says with the roadway getting more and more clogged, this project is essential.
"As the apartments come on and the housing developments come on and there's more and more each and every year, we really need better roads," Knight said.
So now, TxDOT is doing something about it, in the form of a $227 million project that goes from I-35W to Avondale-Haslet Rd.
"We are adding an inside lane to the main lanes," said Saba El-Hawi, project manager with TxDOT, "so we're going from two lanes to three lanes for the main lanes."
That's not all - the project also entails adding continuous one-way multi-lane frontage roads on both sides of the freeway, constructing new interchanges, and other enhancements.
Knight's husband, Steven, says this is a welcome development.
"We have been stuck in it once or twice," he said, "and it's just backed-up traffic and nobody moves."
Currently, there are some points along 81/287 where traffic enters the main lanes directly from side streets.
When this project is completed, that will no longer be an issue.
"All the access will be on to the frontage roads," El-Hawi said; "and then, of course, if you're on a side street or going to an interchange."
Willow Springs Rd. and Heritage Trace Pkwy. will be reconstructed to go underneath 81/287.
Phase one of the project encompasses the area between I-35W and just north of Harmon Rd.: Along with the frontage roads, there will be a new northbound off-ramp to North Tarrant Pkwy. and new southbound ramps onto and off of North Tarrant Pkwy. and Harmon Rd.
The Knights attended the in-person public hearing at V.R. Eaton High School, and they were pleased with what they saw and learned about the project.
"They've got a good plan," Cassie Knight said.
While the in-person public hearing was one day only, a virtual public hearing will remain online through June 17.
After you view the virtual public hearing, you can give TxDOT your feedback on the project.
Construction of phase one is slated to begin in 2024, with completion expected in 2027.
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