CTroyMathis
25 December 2003, 02:04 PM
More lanes needed, highway study says
But as long as drivers go it alone, congestion expected to remain
03:04 PM CST on Wednesday, December 24, 2003
By KARIN SHAW ANDERSON / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/localnews/city/mesquite/stories/122503dnmesdart.9770e.html
The main highways between downtown Dallas and the eastern suburbs will need more regular and HOV lanes, a study has found.
But keeping cars moving as the area grows will require more than pouring concrete.
"If the only solution we were able to come up with were to add freeway lanes, then it would require seven freeway lanes in each direction," Ernie Martinez told Mesquite residents last week at a public meeting called to discuss the findings.
Mr. Martinez, project manager for Dallas Area Rapid Transit, said residents would have to let go of their steering wheels to accommodate the population growth expected within the next two decades.
That would be a big adjustment. Three-fourths of drivers in the area commute alone, and just 17 percent car pool, the study found.
The study proposes lane additions for Interstate 30 between downtown Dallas and Rockwall County and for U.S. Highway 80 between I-30 and State Highway 352 in Sunnyvale.
The stretch of I-30 from downtown Dallas east to the I-30 split would get the most new lanes _ three reversible ones for high-occupancy vehicles, plus one regular lane in each direction.
Approval process
DART is leading the study for a coalition that also includes the North Central Texas Council of Governments and the Texas Department of Transportation.
Officials wanted to discuss the conclusions with residents before presenting them to the Mesquite, Dallas and Garland city councils. The plan would then have to be approved by Dallas County commissioners, the DART board and the North Central Texas Council of Governments.
The construction schedule depends on a number of variables, Mr. Martinez said, and work could begin anytime between 2010 and 2020.
"One of the first things we do when we start one of these comprehensive corridor studies is define the transportation problems in the corridor," Mr. Martinez said.
Without the new lane construction, he said, the biggest freeway capacity shortfalls would occur in the westernmost part of the study area, where an estimated 19,000 people would not have room to get through during rush hours.
The middle portion fell short by nearly 15,000 people, and the easternmost stretch by 9,300.
Simply widening freeways enough to accommodate the demand would require displacing thousands of business and homeowners along acres of frontage roads – a costly prospect.
But some residents at the meeting complained that the plan relied too much on HOV lanes.
"Why would you not just take these reversible lanes and make them general-purpose lanes? You'd get a whole lot more cars using them," said Bob Chambers, a Mesquite resident. "Has there ever been any consideration to just adding these lanes and making them reversible general-purpose lanes rather than HOV lanes?"
Mr. Martinez said that wouldn't work.
"It sounds like you're saying we should build our way out of this," he said. "If we did that, we wouldn't stop building."
But he said officials would have the option of allowing single-person vehicles to use the HOV lanes for a fee when the lanes weren't full of cars carrying more than one person.
And although far more people drive alone than car pool now, Mr. Martinez said that could change. "The HOV lane [in place now along I-30] is at capacity during the peak hours," he said.
Environmental concerns
Building only regular traffic lanes would add to environmental problems, said John Heiman Jr., a Mesquite City Council member who serves on the study committee.
"One of the reasons ... we don't just build an additional three lanes is we are under such restrictions from the federal government to reduce the tonnage of volatile organic compounds that are generated every day," Mr. Heiman said. "What's going to happen is that eventually the government will say, 'No, you can't do these projects here. You're going to have to have a no-build policy.'
"That really scares us in the city of Mesquite to be put under those restrictions."
The committee also studied widening city streets and adding rail lines but found those options wouldn't help significantly, Mr. Martinez said.
Bringing DART bus service to Mesquite, which isn't a member city in the regional transit agency, isn't viable either, Mr. Heiman said.
"We can sit around all day and say, 'Man, it would be a great thing if we could get in on DART,' " he said. "But when you look at what the cost is going to be for us to get in on DART, I just don't see any way that can happen."
The study plan would produce dramatic results, Mr. Heiman said. "This is something that will make a difference."
But as long as drivers go it alone, congestion expected to remain
03:04 PM CST on Wednesday, December 24, 2003
By KARIN SHAW ANDERSON / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/localnews/city/mesquite/stories/122503dnmesdart.9770e.html
The main highways between downtown Dallas and the eastern suburbs will need more regular and HOV lanes, a study has found.
But keeping cars moving as the area grows will require more than pouring concrete.
"If the only solution we were able to come up with were to add freeway lanes, then it would require seven freeway lanes in each direction," Ernie Martinez told Mesquite residents last week at a public meeting called to discuss the findings.
Mr. Martinez, project manager for Dallas Area Rapid Transit, said residents would have to let go of their steering wheels to accommodate the population growth expected within the next two decades.
That would be a big adjustment. Three-fourths of drivers in the area commute alone, and just 17 percent car pool, the study found.
The study proposes lane additions for Interstate 30 between downtown Dallas and Rockwall County and for U.S. Highway 80 between I-30 and State Highway 352 in Sunnyvale.
The stretch of I-30 from downtown Dallas east to the I-30 split would get the most new lanes _ three reversible ones for high-occupancy vehicles, plus one regular lane in each direction.
Approval process
DART is leading the study for a coalition that also includes the North Central Texas Council of Governments and the Texas Department of Transportation.
Officials wanted to discuss the conclusions with residents before presenting them to the Mesquite, Dallas and Garland city councils. The plan would then have to be approved by Dallas County commissioners, the DART board and the North Central Texas Council of Governments.
The construction schedule depends on a number of variables, Mr. Martinez said, and work could begin anytime between 2010 and 2020.
"One of the first things we do when we start one of these comprehensive corridor studies is define the transportation problems in the corridor," Mr. Martinez said.
Without the new lane construction, he said, the biggest freeway capacity shortfalls would occur in the westernmost part of the study area, where an estimated 19,000 people would not have room to get through during rush hours.
The middle portion fell short by nearly 15,000 people, and the easternmost stretch by 9,300.
Simply widening freeways enough to accommodate the demand would require displacing thousands of business and homeowners along acres of frontage roads – a costly prospect.
But some residents at the meeting complained that the plan relied too much on HOV lanes.
"Why would you not just take these reversible lanes and make them general-purpose lanes? You'd get a whole lot more cars using them," said Bob Chambers, a Mesquite resident. "Has there ever been any consideration to just adding these lanes and making them reversible general-purpose lanes rather than HOV lanes?"
Mr. Martinez said that wouldn't work.
"It sounds like you're saying we should build our way out of this," he said. "If we did that, we wouldn't stop building."
But he said officials would have the option of allowing single-person vehicles to use the HOV lanes for a fee when the lanes weren't full of cars carrying more than one person.
And although far more people drive alone than car pool now, Mr. Martinez said that could change. "The HOV lane [in place now along I-30] is at capacity during the peak hours," he said.
Environmental concerns
Building only regular traffic lanes would add to environmental problems, said John Heiman Jr., a Mesquite City Council member who serves on the study committee.
"One of the reasons ... we don't just build an additional three lanes is we are under such restrictions from the federal government to reduce the tonnage of volatile organic compounds that are generated every day," Mr. Heiman said. "What's going to happen is that eventually the government will say, 'No, you can't do these projects here. You're going to have to have a no-build policy.'
"That really scares us in the city of Mesquite to be put under those restrictions."
The committee also studied widening city streets and adding rail lines but found those options wouldn't help significantly, Mr. Martinez said.
Bringing DART bus service to Mesquite, which isn't a member city in the regional transit agency, isn't viable either, Mr. Heiman said.
"We can sit around all day and say, 'Man, it would be a great thing if we could get in on DART,' " he said. "But when you look at what the cost is going to be for us to get in on DART, I just don't see any way that can happen."
The study plan would produce dramatic results, Mr. Heiman said. "This is something that will make a difference."