psukhu

from NTTA.org
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The purposes of this project are to: improve the existing Oak Lawn Avenue from a four-lane roadway to a six-lane roadway; realign the roadway to enhance motorist safety; add a northbound entrance ramp to and a southbound exit ramp from the Dallas North Tollway (DNT); and add a sound wall along the northwest quadrant of the DNT/Oak Lawn intersection. Engineering design of the project is under way and is expected to be complete in Spring 2003. A construction date has yet to be determined.

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psukhu

I noticed that there is dirt moving in a field adjacent to the DNT at Wycliff. You can see it when you exit at Wycliff, coming from the north. I wonder if this has anything to do with this project, or are they building something else?

Columbus Civil

I wonder if the onramp will go right through the site where the old high school is at Maple and Oaklawn?

ibryant

Actually Columbus Civil, I think the building you are referring to is the Old Parkland Hospital. The engineering firm I work for is doing to environmental assessment work for the project. I reviewed the EA the other day and believe that a very small portion (don't remember the exact amount, but it's very small) of new ROW will be acquired from the Parkland Hospital campus. The acquired ROW will come from the back of the campus (Southwest Corner) and I also believe that a tree or two may need to be taken. However, the beautiful large trees throughout the campus will remain intact, and the City of Dallas requires that for every tree taken, a new tree must be planted as close to the original location as possible.

Also Psukhu, I think the area you are talking about is part of the project, but I can't say for sure, I would need to see exactly what you are talking about...I can't picture it too well in my head. I know Scottish Rite is also giving up some land fronting Oak Lawn as well.

psukhu

I'm talking about the field across from Sal's Pizza on Wycliff.

It was a run down looking field with concrete retaining walls that were falling apart. It looks like the NTTA was storing large signs there.

A few days ago I noticed bull dozers clearing the land, and the retaining walls had been removed.

Columbus Civil

Thanks for the info, ibryant. I always thought that was a school - now I know!

MustangMonkey

I can understand inproving the intersection of Oak Lawn, DNT, and Stemmons. In fact there is no link between the DNT and Oak Lawn, the DNT just passes over (to the best of my recolection), but where exactly do they plan on expanding from 4 to 6 lanes. Most OakLawn businesses do not have huge parking lots that can be easily converted to roadway -sounds very distructive.

psukhu

My guess is that they will rebuild Oaklawn Ave between I-35 and Maple. They'll widen Oaklawn and add DNT ramps. You'll only be able to go north on the DNT, and only southbound DNT traffic will be able to exit.

It seems like they will also get rid of those sharp curves on Oaklawn near the DNT and Harry Hines.


It's nice to see the NTTA spending some toll revenue in Dallas.

tamtagon

I've heard, but am not sure, that the old Parkland buildings serve as a minimum security facility for the county's not-so-bad offenders. There's a lot of room there....

ibryant

Actually TamTagon, for a short period of time in the past, they did serve as a minimum security prison. However, now they are sitting vacant (and have been for some time). There are plans to rehab the buildings for medical use once again...not parkland again, but non-hopital medical and medical-related uses (such as medical offices, classes for nurses, etc.).

Also, for those of you who don't know, the Old Parkland campus is a Dallas Historic Landmark. The old Parkland campus is named "Parkland" due to the fact that the land was originally set aside to be a city park, but due to the rapid growth of Dallas, a hospital campus was much more urgent. The original buildings were wooden and were built around 1908. However, those were torn down, and the main central building that exists today was built around 1913, followed by the other buildings in 1921, 1922, and 1924. Additions were made in the 1950s, I believe, but they are not typically considered as part of the historic collection of Parkland buildings.

The buildings are not currently listed in the National Register of Historic Places, however, they are eligible. For my Historic Preservation class last summer, I prepared the National Register application form for the original Parkland buildings on the campus. It's a great campus, great location, and great buildings...I hope they begin reusing the site soon.

gc

Thanks for the history update ibryant, I did not know that. I do hope that they rehabilitate the building the soon and find a good use for it. It is a great site.

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psukhu

I have also heard about the plan to use it as a nursing school.

gc

I have noticed over the past several months that something is going on over at the old Parkland campus. I know there is road work going on over there so I thought maybe it was being used as temporary storage, not to mention tollway work. Does anyone know anything about this?

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psukhu

I think Oaklawn between 35 and the Tollway will be rebuilt. They plan to increase it to 6 lanes and remove that sharp curve.

Plus, as you know, they are adding an Oaklawn exit to the tollway.

I think they have major utility work to do before anything can be done. I'm guess that's what we are seeing.

UptownDallas

From www.ntta.org:

drumguy8800

LOL this thread has been open since 2003. Whew we are efficient!

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psukhu

http://www.ntta.org/pub/servlet/pubnews?option=0

NTTA authorized to proceed with Oak Lawn Project on Dallas North Tollway

Dallas, Texas – The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) approving the environmental process for the proposed re-construction of Oak Lawn Avenue from IH 35E to Maple Avenue and the Dallas North Tollway (DNT) from Harry Hines Boulevard to South of Maple Avenue, in Dallas County.

The announcement of the “Finding of No Significant” (FONSI) by the FHWA signals the conclusion of the environmental study phase and authorizes the NTTA to proceed with plans to build the proposed improvements. This process was made possible by the joint efforts of the Dallas District of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the City of Dallas, Dallas County and the NTTA. A special thanks goes out to the Scottish Rite Hospital who contributed assistance by hosting numerous breakfast meetings throughout the process for all partners involved.

The proposed improvements include:
• Widening and improving Oak Lawn Avenue from IH 35E to Maple Avenue from four lanes to six lanes;
• Replacement of the DNT bridge over Oak Lawn Avenue;
• Widening and improving the DNT between Maple Avenue on the north and Harry Hines Boulevard on the south. Reconstruction of the main lanes would include three 12’ to 13’ lanes, and concrete wall barriers separating traffic by direction; and
• Construction of a half-diamond interchange connecting the DNT to Oak Lawn Avenue.

“We are extremely excited to receive this clearance from the FHWA, so that we can move quickly on this much-needed improvement to the southern portion of the DNT,” said NTTA Executive Director Allan Rutter. “We want the people who drive the southern section of the DNT to know that we are committed to making improvements as needed to the early sections of the Tollway. This project should greatly improve access and mobility in that area of the city.”

Construction on the project could begin as early as January 2006 and the estimated construction cost of the project is $13.4 million. The cost will be divided between the four entities as follows: NTTA - $1.45 million, Dallas County - $2.13 million, TxDOT - $100,000 and the remaining $9.79 million from federal funds.

Copies of the Oak Lawn Environmental Assessment, the FONSI, the summary and analysis, and the comment and response report of the public hearing are available for review or purchase at the NTTA office, located at 5900 W. Plano Parkway, Suite 100, Plano, TX 75093.

tamtagon

Good deal. How long does something like this take?

Tnekster

Does this mean that bridge from I-35 to the NDT will become at least 2 lanes?

tamtagon

And, isnt the NDT going to be extended as the Trinity Tollway?

rantanamo

^I always thought it would end at the 183/I-35E split, creating a four way interchange. Perhaps they are planning on merging it with the Trinity Tollway(No!!!!!!!!!!! Darth Vader style)

Tnekster

These are two separate road projects.

RobertB

A map is worth a thousand words... this is a pretty good sized project, with more complications than the NTTA press release lets on.

The blue lines are the expansions slated for the DNT and for Oak Lawn. I think when they say "DNT to Harry Hines", they're not talking about the flyover ramps that connect the DNT to I-35E. Those will be addressed in the Project Pegasus reconstruction of the entire Dallas Mixmaster. I haven't heard anything about extending the DNT to the Trinity (are you thinking of the Woodall Rodgers extension?), but this project wouldn't affect such plans. I'm sure, though, that NTTA will leave room for Project Pegasus' improved ramps to the DNT.

For the non-roadgeeks, a half-diamond interchange means that you're building two ramps instead of the four required for full access. Based on the ROW I think is available to NTTA (outlined in yellow), I believe they're planning to add a ramp from Oak Lawn to northbound DNT, and southbound DNT to Oak Lawn (ramps in green). There's nothing I see in the aerial on the northeast corner, and the building on the northwest corner is a warehouse that once had a rail spur leading to it (you can see the high spot in the grass as you drive by). I've wondered for years what would happen to that building... now I know.

The kicker, though, and the elephant in NTTA's living room, is the Harry Hines/Oak Lawn intersection. It's poorly designed and, I suspect, little used. There's a terrible curve as Oak Lawn dives into the narrow bridges under Harry Hines. The red line in the image shows where DART is already going to take away the exit/entrance ramps on the west side of the intersection. I suspect that NTTA is working with the City of Dallas to get rid of the cloverleaf ramps on the other side as well, eliminating entirely the outdated intersection of Harry Hines and Oak Lawn in favor of the modern intersection of the Tollway and Oak Lawn. Someone, the City I suspect, will probably be rebuilding the Harry Hines bridge to allow Oak Lawn to be widened.

Like the Bryan/Central/Routh/Good-Latimer reconstruction, I suspect that this project is being spurred indirectly by DART. Somebody must have figured, since the southbound Harry Hines ramps are going away, why not finish the job? Somebody then must have called up NTTA and suggested that they pay for widening Oak Lawn as a way of feeding more toll traffic into their system. I wouldn't be surprised if DART is planning to contribute a little more than originally planned for demolishing those ramps. Whoever is working behind the scenes to bring these agencies together -- the Inside The Loop folks, perhaps? -- deserves a round of applause.

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tamtagon

What's up with that?

RobertB

It ended up in another thread: Oak Lawn/Tollway Project (complete with a helpful map by Yours Truly).

__________________
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09

tamtagon

Thanks, RobB. Threads merged.

Mephis Gooseberry

Tony Hartzel:
Work starts on 2 busy roads: Walnut Hill, tollway

01:39 PM CDT on Sunday, May 28, 2006


Road engineers have decided that it's out with the old pavement and in with the new at two high-traffic zones in Dallas.

Because of that, motorists must endure some substantial headaches.

On Thursday, the city shut down all lanes of westbound Walnut Hill Lane west of Greenville Avenue to Rambler Road. The closures will last three months as crews install a new sewer line and rebuild the nearly 40-year-old street.

Work also has started near downtown on rebuilding the Dallas North Tollway from Lemmon Avenue south to the Interstate 35E ramps. Workers already have shut down one of three southbound lanes just south of the Wycliff Avenue toll plaza, and one of three northbound lanes soon will be closed, as well. Those closures could last up to two years.

On the Walnut Hill project, the city has detoured all westbound motorists at Greenville Avenue to nearby Meadow Road so that crews can finish the $692,000 project as quickly as possible. Eastbound traffic will not be directly affected.

"By completely shutting this down, we're able to complete this twice as fast and possibly three times as fast," said project manager Tim Starr with the city of Dallas. "We also could leave a lane open, but there would be a lot of congestion."

When complete, the area will have a new 10-inch sewer line under Walnut Hill and three lanes of Walnut Hill that no longer are falling apart. The work coincides with work at the Walnut Hill and Greenville intersection, where crews are adding dual left-turn lanes on southbound Greenville and in both directions of Walnut Hill. Workers there also are adding a southbound right-turn lane.

Before deciding to close the road, engineers studied the potential impact on Presbyterian Hospital, which has a major entrance on Walnut Hill. The hospital and city worked out a plan to use another entrance off Greenville Avenue, Mr. Starr said.

The city also reviewed the possible effect that a detour would have on nearby McShan Elementary School. The detour began on the first day of summer vacation for students, and officials have until the start of school in August to get the project done.

"It's a lot of work. It's going to be very fast-paced," Mr. Starr said.

Close to downtown, the North Texas Tollway Authority will spend $50 million to rebuild the tollway south of Lemmon Avenue and add ramps to and from Oak Lawn Avenue. That project will coincide with a $13 million expansion of Oak Lawn Avenue, which will grow from two lanes to three in each direction.

Tollway authority officials are preaching patience to motorists, who during late nights may have only one of three lanes available in areas south of the main toll plaza. The agency also plans to shut down the plaza's two express lanes in each direction, forcing TollTag users into standard payment lanes. At least two remaining plaza lanes will be dedicated to tag users, said Mark Bouma, the tollway authority's director of engineering.

"There just isn't enough right of way," he said, noting that the tollway sits on a strip of land that is 100 to 120 feet wide in certain spots. "That's the challenge of trying to rebuild in a tight corridor."

The agency also has plans to raze the 38-year-old toll plaza, which handles about 90,000 transactions a day. It will be replaced with a glass-and-metal, Jetsons-style toll plaza similar to the ones recently installed at the Gaylord Parkway exit ramps in Frisco.

When the project is complete, motorists will have three express lanes in each direction to use, and they also will have a fourth main lane from the toll plaza north to Lemmon Avenue.

In the meantime, tollway authority officials are reminding motorists that speed limits through the toll plaza are 40 mph, and fines for speeding are double in an active construction zone.


Tony Hartzel can be reached at thartzel@dallasnews.com and at P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, TX 75265.


DMN article

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FoUTASportscaster

Glad I moved to DT. On the occasions which I happen to use my car for work, I would go through the nightmare at Oak Lawn. Now I will only have to worry about it on on certain occasions.

Also explains why Oak Lawn is still torn up after the underground infrastructure was replaced. It makes no sence to replace it, then replace it again in a year.

shaun3000

Why are they replacing the Wycliff toll plaza? I rarely see backups there. They need to put the new one at Keller Springs, that plaza is a nightmare. It needs atleast three more booths on each side and three high-speed TollTag lanes. During the peak of evening rush hour, it backs up to Forest!

Lakewooder

Let's not forget the backup at Mockingbird -- could that have something to do with it being one lane in each direction?

grantboston

I think it's part of a larger NTTA strategy to eventually replace all of the toll plazas on the old section of the DNT and make them similar to the plaza at Gaylord Pkwy. in Frisco. Don't hold me to this, but I believe I remember reading that at some point in some NTTA literature.

Also, there's the whole Texas Tag reader addition. I don't think this would require the complete alteration of the plaza, however.

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jsoto3

RobertB

I think it's part of a larger strategy, alright... to continue to find ways to spend toll revenues so that they never run a surplus. If that happened, someone might suddenly realize that the older sections of the DNT have paid for themselves several times over, and that Dallas is now paying for roads to nowhere in Collin and Grayson counties. I posted a year or so ago, in another thread, that NTTA is going to spend as much on new toll booths -- about $25 million -- as the state of Kentucky was given by the Feds to pay off toll roads stretching from Hazard to Bowling Green. They got tolls removed from nearly 200 miles of turnpike. We get new toll plazas.

And there's nothing required for TxTag readers but a software change, or a new antenna at the most.

__________________
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shaun3000

Fuck the NTTA, I'm taking Central to work, now. Why? Because this morning the tollway was backed up from the Wycliff booth all the way to Beltine Rd. because the left lane was closed just before said tollbooth. But wait, it was only close for a 1/4 mile, if that, and THERE WAS NO REASON FOR IT TO BE CLOSED. There was no equipment in the blocked lane, no construction, only an arrow. Oh, and it's concrete barriers, so I'm sure it's going to be there a while. (The kicker is they are movable barriers like the HOV lane on I-30, but of course no zipper machine in sight) This evening they had a forklift in there to make it look like they were doing something. But, nothing else and another backup to Beltline.

The same goes for NB tollway, it backs up usually at Forest in the evening because the fucking tollbooths aren't big enough yet nothing is done. If I'm goingto throw money into it, they damned well better do something. And that something damned well NOT be a two-year construction project to make pointless upgrades.

Mballar

When are the public's frustrations over the tollway going to culminate into a public backlash at the NTTA? We all know we're getting ripped off. . .yet, we do nothing about it!!!

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BigD5349

Agree! And, don't forget about the Tollway along the Trinity River, another road that we do not need. I think when they start building it, and folks from this forum go down and take pictures of the concrete being poured inside the river levee, we'll all be saying, "what in the heck are we doing this for?"

Seeing it in real life will bring the issue home, but then it will be too late. Start complaining, loudly!

4th Generation

I feel for anyone having to go South on The Tollway from Frisco/West Plano/Addison to downtown during the morning rush. Not only do they have the random wildass lane closures as Shaun alluded to, but it's very dangerous. You have people rolling thru the express lanes and then a right lane taken away from folks merging back on from the pay plazas. Expect to see a lot of sudden stops and a lot more wrecks. I moved down here from Addison just in time. Now I just have to deal with Oak Lawn.

Shaun, one of the reasons they are redoing the Wycliff plaza is a) it's the oldest of the bunch. Time for an update/upgrade. b) A dumptruck took out half of the plaza a few years back (which actually sped up the express lane conversion). As far as Keller Springs, that is the most used plaza, hence the biggest backups. I don't know if there's an awful lot that can be done there.

shaun3000

I remember the dumptruck thing. But they didn't redo any of the other tollbooths for the high-speed lanes, they just tore them out and put the new lanes in. The dumptruck took care of the demolition part on the Wycliff booth. Regardless, it's still bigger than the one that goes across up at Keller Springs, and that's the only one that I ever seen totally backed-up during rush hour.

plarkinjr

Infomart closed their Oak Lawn entrance/exit two weeks ago, and yet Oak Lawn still appears 100% functional - I take it every day (and then turn NB on Stemmons svc road to go in the first entrance to Infomart). :eek2:

Has anyone else noticed that after the first few days of horrible traffic from Mockingbird to Wycliff on DNT when they first blocked off the left most lane, traffic has actually gotten lighter? Either a lot of folks found alternate routes, or they are not as surprised and proceed in an orderly fashion through that area?

Also, traffic condition reports on ntta.org http://www.ntta.org/pub/servlet/pub...tions2?option=1 are usually very lacking - seldom displaying incidents and conditions listed at either: http://autos.msn.com/everyday/Traff....aspx?Metro=DFW or http://www.traffic.com/Dallas/index.html

jstrater

The Wycliff tollbooth has been choas! I have started taking alternate routes around it and a I am hearing of people taking the Mockingbird exit.

plarkinjr

I've taken MBird-Inwood-Stemmons-Oaklawn to infomart a few times - YUCK!
Luckily, I get to work from home a couple hours and head thru the Wycliff plaza smoothly approx 9:30am.

Northbound Tollway entrance from Wycliff is a clusterflock on the other hand in the afternoon/evening time. Right booth closed, left lanes diverted right, etc.... UGH!

kenc

An Update!!!

Just drove up I35 today, (7/25/06), and took the Oak Lawn exit...half the street is closed and all traffic moved to the west bound lanes. Eastbound concrete is completely removed, and the "loop" at Oak Lawn and Harry Hines gone. What a mess. If you can avoid this intersection for a few months - good idea!

plarkinjr

Yeah, it bites.... I work at Infomart and returning home, used to take OL to harry hines south to wolf then back north onto tollway. Now I take OL to maple south to wolf. Tried going up 35 to market center, south on HH to Wycliff to Tollway, but that entrance is jammed and folks drive it like its Calcutta or something!

Wasn't much of that section (and the "loop" from NB HH to EB OL) rebuilt just last year??????

My employer will probably move right before this construction is done in 2008.... we moved to infomart from LBJ and Luna right before the PGBT opened. <sigh>

RobertB

Cool info. I guess that confirms that there won't *be* an intersection of Harry Hines and Oak Lawn by the time this construction and the DART Rail construction are done. I don't think many will mourn the intersection's passing.

Meanwhile, on the Tollway, the lanes have all been shifted to the west. The last month or so was spent removing the center divider so it could be turned into temporary roadway, and before that they were busy putting temporary pavement on the west (southbound) side. Now that traffic has been shifted completely out of the old northbound lanes, NTTA can build the ramp from Oak Lawn to Tollway North, plus work on the Maple Ave. bridge.

Traffic is moving somewhat more smoothly now that this more stable configuration is in place, especially northbound. Although I'm lucky -- I'm northbound AM and southbound PM with my reverse commute. If it were the other way around, I'd probably be taking Central... and I'm always happier when I avoid it altogether in favor of Mr. DART.

__________________
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09

RobertB

Work is proceeding apace. The future northbound lanes have been raised several feet to improve sight distance. The topography behind Old Parkland has been pretty well obliterated as the new northbound entrance ramp takes shape. Some preparation work has started on the southbound exit ramp -- the old warehouse that I think will be demolished has had the expensive-looking antennas removed from its roof. And NTTA has installed signs with a cute little girl imploring us speed-hungry bastards to slow the hell down -- ironically, the signs were featured on the TV news just a few days before two construction workers were killed in a work zone in Ellis County.

Meanwhile, the NTTA email newsletter notes:

**** Dallas North Tollway South End to Close October 14-15 ***

On the weekend of October 14-15, the Dallas North Tollway (DNT) between Northwest Highway and IH-35E will be closed in both directions from 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 14, through 5:00 a.m. Monday, October 16, in order to begin demolition of the Cedar Springs bridge. The last exit for southbound traffic will be at Northwest Highway. The southbound entrance ramps at Lovers Lane, Mockingbird Lane and Lemmon Ave. will be closed. The northbound Tollway will be closed at Harry Hines Blvd., IH-35E and Wycliff Avenue. Northbound traffic will not be able to enter the roadway until Mockingbird Lane. Signage will be placed on the DNT, IH-35 and Harry Hines Blvd. to notify motorists of the closure.

Eastbound Cedar Springs Road will be closed beginning Oct. 9 and will remain closed until mid-March 2007. Westbound Cedar Springs at the Tollway will be one lane only. The east end of Lucas Street at Cedar Springs and the Tollway will also be closed during that five-month interval.

Demolition, eh? I was hoping there would be more details of what sort of demolition will take place -- something explosive would be nice. :angryfire <-- emoticon denoting pyromania, not anger

__________________
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09

crescentboi

An interesting article from the Dallas Voice about the project.


Construction closes part of Cedar Springs Road
http://www.dallasvoice.com/artman/p...rticle_3635.php

By Lisa Rainey
Oct 12, 2006, 20:37


Project to rebuild bridge, update 40-year-old tollway expected to take at least 5 months, officials say


Construction is expected to keep all but one lane of a section of Cedar Springs Road, at the tollway bridge, closed for about five months.
Oak Lawn residents and visitors to the entertainment district will likely find themselves struggling with increased traffic congestion in the coming months, as the North Texas Tollway Authority closes down a portion of Cedar Springs Road through next March for construction.

Temporary closures are needed in order to demolish the Cedar Springs Bridge, Tollway Authority officials said, suggesting that drivers seek alternate routes around the area.

Residents and businesses in the area should also expect loud demolition noise from heavy equipment for the duration of the closure, officials said.

The Tollway Authority is closing the southern portion of the Dallas North Tollway from 8:30 p.m. Saturday through 5 a.m. Monday, from I-35E to Northwest Highway. In addition, eastbound Cedar Springs Road is now closed at the tollway and will remain closed until March 2007, officials said.

Only one westbound lane of Cedar Springs Road at the tollway remains open.
The east end of Lucas Street at Cedar Springs and the tollway will also be closed during the five-month construction interval, Tollway Authority officials said.

Southbound motorists will have to exit at Northwest Highway or sooner. The southbound entrance ramps at Lovers Lane, Mockingbird Lane and Lemmon Avenue will be closed. The northbound tollway entrances at Harry Hines Boulevard, I-35E and Wycliff Avenue will be closed, and northbound traffic will not be able to enter the tollway until Mockingbird Lane.

Signage will be placed on the tollway in numerous areas to notify motorists of the closure, officials said.

Some area residents this week were critical of more new construction in the high-traffic neighborhood that is already seeing backups due to construction on Oak Lawn Avenue.

“This construction project, coupled with the major construction on Oak Lawn Avenue between Maple Avenue and I-35E should cause most of the Oak Lawn area to be in constant gridlock,” said P.D. Sterling, organizer of the Oak Lawn Apartment Managers and Stakeholders Crime Watch.

Although the construction will not extend to the “Crossroads area” of Cedar Springs Road (between Wycliff and Oak Lawn), some businesses and residents will be inconvenienced for a long period of time due to massive construction in the vicinity, he suggested.

“What bothers me is the overall lack of planning or empathy for residents and businesses in the area,” Sterling said. “If you complain to the city or the NTTA all they say is, ‘It will be so much better when it’s done.’ But no one will tell me why it’s being done.”

He added, “Why is this is even necessary and why is it going to take five months to replace an existing bridge?”

“I know it’s progress, and I’m not complaining about that,” Sterling continued. “I’d just like some answers.”

Nancy Weinberger, another longtime Oak Lawn resident and community activist said the closure of Cedar Springs Road is already causing traffic tie-ups in the area.

“Frankly, I think they did a pretty poor job in getting the information out and with setting up the detours,” Weinberger said.

“The Tollway Authority is usually much better at getting things done so I wonder if the hold up was due to the city instead of them,” Weinberger said.

“My housekeeper came Monday morning and said there was no detour information on Cedar Springs and when she got to the closure the person there just said turn. … People were wandering all over the west side of Cedar Springs trying to figure out what to do, she added. “I notice there are lots of signs now coming from Love Field but I can’t tell if they really adequately describe what to do.”

Weinberger said that she was told by the city that the suggested alternate route around the construction zone — for those who are eastbound — is to exit Cedar Springs on to Kings Road, take Kings Road to Maple Avenue and then cut back over to Cedar Springs Road via on Douglas Street or Wycliff Avenue.

“My neighborhood, Perry Heights, is being trampled by traffic,” Weinberger said. “Who in their right mind is going to go over to Maple when they can cut over to Lemmon and cut through our neighborhood and avoid the bottleneck at Lemmon and Wycliff? I’m not sure but I think there are at least two school zones on Maple and it seems to me to be much farther away to go Maple,” she said.

According to Dennis D. Alsup, project coordinator for the engineering firm Halff Associates, Inc., who is planning and coordinating the project, the reconstruction of the bridge will include lengthening it by 15 feet, mostly on the west side of the bridge, and widening it by 12 feet to allow for wider traffic lanes and sidewalks.

The bridge replacement is part of a $50 million upgrade project in the southernmost section of the Dallas North Tollway and the Wycliff Toll Plaza, which are more than 40 years old, according to a Tollway Authority statement.

The project includes the oldest section of the Dallas North Tollway between Lemmon Avenue and I-35E leading into downtown Dallas.

According to the Tollway Authority, the project will take about 18 to 24 months to complete and will include the demolition of the original main toll plaza at Wycliff, reconstruction of the pavement from Lemmon Avenue south to I-635, replacement of the Oak Lawn bridge and widening of Oak Lawn Avenue as it approaches the tollway from the east and west, and replacement of the Cedar Springs bridge.

The Tollway Authority will build the new tollway plaza in the exact location of the original main plaza once other portions of the project are finished.

“These improvements will not only enhance the capacity and safety of the tollway, but with a modern, contemporary new plaza design, it will become a shining new gateway to downtown Dallas just as downtown begins to boom with new residential and commercial activity near the American Airlines Center in Victory,” the Tollway Authority statement said.

For information on traffic conditions, go online to www.ntta.org and look under “Traffic Conditions,” or call 972-224-3030.

E-mail rainey@dallasvoice.com


This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition, October 13, 2006.

© Copyright by DallasVoice.com

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"In life, good things happen and bad things happen. But if you do not take a chance, nothing happens."

RobertB

The Dallas Voice seems to have missed out completely on the fact that there will be a new intersection linking Oak Lawn to the Tollway, reducing congestion on streets like Cedar Springs and Wycliff. They might also have wanted to ask about the future of the Oak Lawn/Harry Hines intersection -- which as far as I can tell will no longer exist when the dust settles.

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As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09

UptownDallas

shaun3000

I'm still dumbfounded that they are spending several million dollars on a new tollbooth. I thought once the road was paid off the booths would be REMOVED.