The Texas Department of Transportation has completed construction on a three-year, $83 million expansion of I-35E through Downtown Dallas. I-35E was rebuilt from I-30 north to Oak Lawn Ave.
The expansion maintained the existing frontage road and main lanes. The project also added two elevated "collector-distributor" lanes in each direction to provide easier access to Woodall Rodgers Freeway and the Dallas North Tollway.
"What we're trying to do is keep Texas moving, keep economic development growing, job creation growing," says Texas Transportation Commission Chairman Bruce Bugg. "We want moms and dads to be able to make it home in time have dinner with their kids."
The project aims to increase speed on 35E. Currently, TxDOT says the average speed on the stretch between I-30 and Oak Lawn is about 12 miles per hour. The agency says this project should increase the average speed to 50 mph.
In addition, the construction aims to improve safety by reducing the amount of traffic weaving in and out of on and off-ramps to the other highways.
"The new direct connectors are making the drive easier for everyone and will relieve the traffic demand on those main lanes," says Dallas City Councilman Omar Narvaez.
Narvaez says reduced congestion will help draw crowds to parks, museums and restaurants in Downtown Dallas and events at the American Airlines Center.
Construction of the connecting ramps above frontage roads allowed TxDOT to expand the highway's capacity without buying additional land on either side for right-of-way.
"We had to think inside the box for this project, literally," says TxDOT Dallas Engineer Mo Bur.
The project was funded as part of the $25 billion "Texas Clear Lanes" initiative. A total of $2 billion in projects have been funded in North Texas.
Currently under construction are 35E and Highway 67 south of Downtown Dallas, I-635 from 75 to I-30, interchanges around Loop 12 and Highways 183 and 114 in Irving, and I-30 from Bass Pro to Dalrock Road. Four other Clear Lanes projects are planned in North Texas in 2022 and later.
Texas Clear Lanes is an effort to reduce congestion in DFW, Austin, Houston and San Antonio. The state demographer estimates the Texas population will grow from 29 million now to 47 million in 2050. Dallas/Fort Worth is expected to grow 88% from about five million people to 9.4 million.
"You can see the importance of this project right now, however, as a business project, it's probably already obsolete," says State Sen. Royce West.
"This basically addressed the needs of Texans where they live, where they work and continue this economic development miracle which is what we all know as the State of Texas," Bugg says.
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