Posted on 06/19/2018 10:41:47 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
AUSTIN After months spent hashing out how to pay the $1.6 billion tab, North Texas' most pressing freeway need at long last gained the blessing of the Texas Transportation Commission at its Thursday meeting.
The Texas Department of Transportation now has its governing body's approval to seek bids on 10.8 miles of Interstate 635 between Central Expressway and Interstate 30 known as LBJ East to planners. A contract will be awarded in the summer of 2019, and construction is to finish in 2024.
The result will be another free lane in each direction, continuous frontage roads that the 50-year-old freeway doesn't have now, and an improved interchange at Interstate 30. The current HOV/Express Lanes in each direction, which are tolled, are "grandfathered" into the deal and will be rebuilt.
For years, regional planners said tolled lanes were the only way to fund the mega-project. In fact, they wanted to add two more of the optional lanes in expanding LBJ East. But tolls are no longer in favor with state leaders in Austin who, through the commission, drove months of negotiation.
Texas Sen. Don Huffines, R-Dallas, told commissioners that the vote is "a victory set in motion when local leaders finally agreed to align their position with state leaders. We're sick and tired of the congestion on 635."
Huffines said later that the message to avoid building tolled projects was made clear in the 2017 legislative session. LBJ East was taken off the TxDOT to-do list by the state commission in December because it had tolled elements.
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
I will say this. Dallas has the BEST road system in the state.
Prior to receiving this honor, former governor Cuomo's most visible connection to bridges was the washout and collapse of the Schoharie Creek Bridge in 1987, during Cuomo's tenure as Governor of New York. A big reason this bridge collapsed was because NY State drastically cut back on maintenance spending for NY infrastructure, presumably because bridges and roadways don't vote for Democrats.
Also the Triboro Bridge, which bore that name since it was built by Robert Moses in 1936, was suddenly renamed for another Democrat, and will henceforth be known as the Robert F. Kennedy bridge.
This was done because a member of the Kennedy family made a couple of phone calls. There is no other connection between the late Senator and the bridge, which is one of the most important in the New York City region.
And the TexExpress that goes on under the west part of LBJ is like driving a dream.
LBJ East???
Why not go whole hog and call it “Jumbo”??? /sarc
I’m sick of LBJ’s legacy.......
“the Robert F. Kennedy bridge.”
At least it’s not “Ted’s bridge”
I drove over the Triboro (I-278) in 2016. I went across the suspension portion, rounded a curve, and suddenly, there was an 8-dollar toll plaza coming right up. Then afterward, a run through a truss section, then onto I-87 north to Albany.
Dallas has the best road system? Seek help. Also I hope the lbga expressway doesn’t intersect with the JFK Expressway. That didn’t work out too well last time.
AM I the only one who remembers you used to be able to get a decent highway for a million a lane mile? Now they spend 1.6 billion for a 10 mile highway and only get 20 more lane miles? And they already had the right of way!
They used to hide the graft more gracefully.
Looks like he jinxed this one too. They had a massive crane collapse on the new bridge when they were building it. I saw it. Viewed from the old bridge the bent metal looked almost like it had melted and dripped over the side.
I'm a native Californian, but I've lived in the Dallas area since 2006.
I spent the better part of the last fifty years driving in SoCal, and I can tell you this; the state of Texas invests far more in their roads, bridges, and highways than Cali does. Way more - and it shows.
In fact, I've never seen a region with more constant road upgrades and new construction projects, than North Texas.
I moved back to Oklahoma City after living in east Dallas for 12 years. When asked what I miss, the roads come to mind first. Both the streets and the freeways are amazing in Dallas.
And what does any of that have to do with 635?
Those frontage roads have already been started. I hope they fix the eastbound 635 Greenville exit. Thats a constant bottleneck with the lane that is forced to merge.
I’m just pointing out the incredibly effective way Democrats have of getting their politicians’ names affixed to huge projects so they live on forever.
The “Triboro Bridge” and the “Tappan Zee Bridge” are phrases that pretty much every New Yorker grows up with. Now they’re gone, replaced with the names of Democrat politicians who by and large didn’t accomplish a damn thing except stuffing their own pockets.
Now Texas has a new highway named for LBJ. He died in 1973, 45 years ago.
That's a fact, for most of us who came from elsewhere.
When we first moved here in 2006, I immediately noticed how much better the roads were, than in SoCal. They've only gotten better, since then.
New highway? 635 first opened back in 1967. It’s been around for a long time. And, LBJ was a TX Senate/Rep, and became VP/Pres. I may not like him, but it makes sense for his name to be on a major TX road. He wasn’t some little no-name do-nothing politician from nowhere.
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