Arlington: Changes to I-30 will be worth the wait

[CTroyMathis]

Changes to I-30 will be worth the wait
By O.K. Carter
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/...er/5967631.htm

There's no question that Interstate 30 has dramatically shaped Arlington in ways both useful and harmful.

Without I-30 coming along as it did in 1957 -- originally as a toll road nicknamed the Turnpike -- there probably wouldn't be a Six Flags Over Texas. Also, no Great Southwest Industrial District, no Hurricane Harbor and quite likely no Rangers. There simply wouldn't have been enough access to attract them.

Not that the Turnpike/I-30 has been entirely a blessing for Arlington.

It's taken years of reflection, but former Arlington Citizen-Journal Publisher George Hawkes -- for many years a member of the Turnpike board of directors -- now said he believes that a considerable portion of the city took some major hits because of a shift in what urban planners call the "spatial dynamics" of redistributed traffic flow related to I-30.

"It's probably fair to say that the decline of Division and Abram streets, as well as the change in public access to the old downtown area, and its subsequent decline, all were related somewhat to the Turnpike coming through," Hawkes said.

Division Street was originally U.S. 80 and thus the major connector for not only Dallas and Fort Worth, but also pretty much all the millions of motorists traveling on the "Bankhead Highway" coast to coast from Georgia to California.

The detrimental effect of moving so much traffic two miles north away from old central Arlington was not, of course, high on the lists of concerns for the planners of the Turnpike. Mostly, they just wanted to miss those 80-plus traffic lights on the section of U.S. 80 running between Fort Worth and Dallas.

Because of the need to collect tolls on the Turnpike, access was limited and the exits tended to be long, circular affairs that chewed up big chunks of acreage. Exits and entrances now on Cooper Street and Fielder Road were not part of the original mix. As soon as they appeared, however, nearby commercial development began in earnest on or near those locations.

Still, those "spatial dynamics" errors made almost 50 years ago -- and still affecting central Arlington today -- never were really corrected. But that may change.

A long overdue $100 million overhaul is, cross your fingers, coming to the portion of the I-30 corridor running through Arlington, the culmination of maybe a decade of study. Some of the projects envisioned, most particularly a widened bridge at Collins Street and a new bridge across I-30 at Baird Farm Road, mostly benefit north Arlington and most particularly the entertainment district.

But a new bridge across I-30 at Center Street, with on-ramps and off-ramps to the interstate, would dramatically increase ease of access to the old central downtown and the area around the University of Texas at Arlington. Indeed, Center Street is projected to someday carry traffic roughly equivalent to what Cooper Street is handling right now.

The snag? Arlington will have to come up with about $5 million as its portion of the overall $100 million price tag -- not easy in an era of ongoing cutbacks. It's also not easy to get people excited about construction that has been talked about for a decade, which won't begin for two or three years or end until something like 2008.

That 2008 completion date, of course, will be more than 50 years after the original Turnpike opened. Some problems clearly take longer to fix than others.

[psukhu]

Anybody notice that the eastbound lanes have been moved to the new concrete?

What's the latest news on the Trinity bridges for I-30?

[GPNupe]

Does anyone know what happened to directly connecting HWY 360 to I-30? I thought as apart of all this construction on 30 or 360 that they would make direct on/off exit ramps between them.

[mannypr]

That connection is long overdue.

[Random Traffic Guy]

I am not aware of any plan for those connections... Certainly not as a part of the 3 Bridges project.
I suspect official interest in improving those connections will be minimal due to 161 only two miles east.

[dfwcre8tive]

New HOV lanes on I-30 in Arlington remain in funding limbo
11:29 AM CST on Monday, November 8, 2010
By KASSI SCHMITT / The Dallas Morning News
kschmitt@dallasnews.com
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...20d7c8f51.html

Newly constructed HOV lanes on Interstate 30 in Arlington remain closed while transit officials sort out who will pay to maintain them.

The reversible lane, which stretches from Dallas to Center Street in Arlington, debuted briefly during three World Series games at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington but have been closed ever since.

"Right now we're still putting the final touches on the lane in Tarrant County such as signage and striping," said Val Lopez, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Transportation.

Morgan Lyons, a spokesman for Dallas Area Rapid Transit, said the lanes are outside DART's service area and have not been turned over to his agency's authority.

"Before DART would start to operate them, we would need to secure interlocal agreements from the Texas Department of Transportation and the interlocal counsel of the government to fund us operating those lanes," he said.

Lyons said it's unknown when the issue would go to the board for approval.

Lopez said the lane could be used during special events this year but most likely won't be opened for good until the new year when DART and TxDOT have an agreement in place.

The high occupancy vehicle lanes are part of the $166 million makeover of Interstate 30. The "Three Bridges Project" on I-30 in Arlington was completed Thursday with the goal of creating a smooth traffic flow leading to the Ballpark and Cowboys Stadium.

In addition to the HOV lanes, the project included the reconstruction of the Collins Street overpass and new bridges at Center Street and Baird Farm Road. The project was completed on time, three months before Super Bowl XLV is played on Feb. 6 at Cowboys Stadium.

The cost of operating the HOV lanes, including maintenance and traffic enforcement, has yet to be calculated, Lyons said.