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DFW Connector: Texas Completes $1.1 BILLION 24-lane Highway

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Atenhaus

Member
I'm so fucking glad the Seattle metro area is moving ahead with the expansion of light rail and commuter rail as opposed to more highways. Highways are the complete anthesis to dense, walkable life.
 
I'm so fucking glad the Seattle metro area is moving ahead with the expansion of light rail and commuter rail as opposed to more highways. Highways are the complete anthesis to dense, walkable life.

Agree. commuter/regional rail kicks the shit out of driving to work.
 
With regards to actual highway lanes, 635 is going to have 8 each way in certain parts after it's all said and done, which is pretty ridiculous.

I live in the galleria area right off 635, and even though I leave for work at midnight (i work overniights) i STILL sometimes hit a standstill on 635 due to random lane closes.
 

GungHo

Single-handedly caused Exxon-Mobil to sue FOX, start World War 3
Are there any cities in Texas where you can comfortably live a dense urban area?
No. We don't even try, because frankly, we don't have to. There are no geographical restrictions to keep us from expanding... well, at least until we run out of water.

Why doesn't LA have this?
You have things in the way, like mountains and oceans. That and your government won't tell all the poor people to fuck off and move, unlike our government that will Eminent Domain a flyover through their yards, serving notice only when the bulldozers show up. Hell, sometimes we don't even wait for them to wake up.

Houston is just hopeless. 290 is fucked, 610 is super fucked, hell even our little piece of 10 is bursting at the seams usually.
And they just expanded the motherfucker about 5 years ago... just to put in some toll lanes that charge $5 each way. The mainlanes are still packed with the poors while the rich Katyites drive by whilst sipping their teas or whatever shit they drink out in east San Antonio.

Admittedly, I haven't tried very hard here, but I don't understand just what in the hell is happening at 290 and 610.
Business owners are getting fucked in the ass by TX-DOT, that's what's happening. All that stuff they're tearing up is commercial land, and people who live, work, and eat there aren't able to do any of it. I'm glad I don't work in that part of town any more, but I know plenty who do. When they started working on the bayou going through there, all those neighborhoods got to learn real fast that they still have nutria, racoons, possums, snakes, and other crazy shit living in there.

Wow, TIL Pappas Restaurants started in Texas.
Yep... they started as the Brisket House over on Pierce.

Landry's also started here, under Tillman Fertitta. For MMA-GAF, yes, he's the cousin of Lorenzo and Frank. For Mafia-GAF, yes they're all related/connected to Sam & Rosario Maceo. For Poli-GAF, yes, he's a Friend of Bill. For Gossip-GAF, yes, he's the business brains behind Eva Longoria's latest schemes.
 

Adam Blue

Member
With regards to actual highway lanes, 635 is going to have 8 each way in certain parts after it's all said and done, which is pretty ridiculous.

I live in the galleria area right off 635, and even though I leave for work at midnight (i work overniights) i STILL sometimes hit a standstill on 635 due to random lane closes.

I live in Bedford and just got a job at the Galleria tower...I now get to experience the full-on highway construction, which honestly isn't too bad. 121 at William D Tate will be slow in the mornings as well as 635/35. I try to leave the office at 4:30 and am sometimes lucky.

121/183 is where it can get really bad.
 

NR1

Member
Since we are on the subject of crazy North Texas roads, here is a video of a crash that happened on one of our highway overpasses last month.

Crazy Crash Video

The Dallas County Medical Examiner's office has identified the driver who was killed Saturday when his 18-wheeler crashed through a guardrail on Interstate 30 in Grand Prairie and plunged to the pavement of the President George Bush Turnpike below.

The victim was James Anthony Long, 59, of Clarksville, Tennessee. The cause of his death remains under investigation.

The North Texas Tollway Authority on Monday released a harrowing surveillance camera video that shows the big rig -- apparently traveling at close to highway speed -- plunging off the side of the overpass into the north and southbound lanes of Bush Turnpike at 4:03 p.m. Saturday.

The flying truck and trailer narrowly missed other motorists, some of whom are seen in the video slamming on the brakes to avoid hitting the fiery wreckage.

One car appeared to be almost directly underneath the truck as it was airborne.

Some drivers stopped, got out of their cars and ran to try and help, but there was little they could do.
It is still not clear why Long's truck left the highway.

Bush Turnpike was closed for hours at the I-30 itnersection while the debris was cleared and new barriers could be installed.

Source:
WFAA

This event reminded me of a similar incident with an 18-wheeler overturning and crashing into a car on Continental Avenue below Interstate 35E in downtown Dallas.
The driver of the tractor-trailer, 38-year-old David Simonelli of Bedford, was killed, along with 20-year-old Ashley Parra, who was driving the vehicle the truck fell on.
 
Since we are on the subject of crazy North Texas roads, here is a video of a crash that happened on one of our highway overpasses last month.

Crazy Crash Video

Not so fun fact, I was literally at that same spot about 10 mins before the crash happened. Took 161 North to the Trader Joe's on Preston for some glorious cookie butter. My GPS told me to take 35/Loop 12 on the way home since apparently 161 is shut down, didn't know this crash caused it to happen.

Anyway, that's just one of the few things that happened last month. I seem to remember a couple of people trying to jump off the ramps connecting 75 and 635 a couple of weeks ago. Thankfully they didn't go through with it.
 
75 still sucks ass, especially approaching downtown. I don't see how the hell they can fix it, there is literally no room left to expand. I used to have to commute from the high five down toward lovers lane. Some days it would take me 45 minutes to drive the stretch in 5-10 mph traffic.

Moved to Addison and now have a 10-15 minute commute. But it's a huge issue that only continues to get worse.
 

Ultratech

Member
When I started reading the article, I was surprised that they finished so early.

Then I found it was some other contractor besides TxDoT.
(Who BTW, take goddamn forever on their projects.)
As far as I can tell, they just go and make a mess for months/years.

Are there any cities in Texas where you can comfortably live a dense urban area?

Depends on your definition of comfortable.

DFW is the worst Airport in the history of mankind. It was very obviously designed by someones cousin.

Go visit more airports and then come back and say that.
 

NR1

Member
Not so fun fact, I was literally at that same spot about 10 mins before the crash happened. Took 161 North to the Trader Joe's on Preston for some glorious cookie butter. My GPS told me to take 35/Loop 12 on the way home since apparently 161 is shut down, didn't know this crash caused it to happen.

Anyway, that's just one of the few things that happened last month. I seem to remember a couple of people trying to jump off the ramps connecting 75 and 635 a couple of weeks ago. Thankfully they didn't go through with it.

Damn... That whole video is full of people like yourself that just barely avoided disaster. I still can't believe the luck of the one guy in the car that has the truck fly over him! He missed being crushed by mere inches!!
 

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
And people entering the highway will still cut you off and cause full stop traffic so they can get to McDonalds 2 miles down the road faster. If Round Rock and I-35 are any indication...I avoid that area if I can, people there do not understand the concept of an interstate highway.
 

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
I'm so fucking glad the Seattle metro area is moving ahead with the expansion of light rail and commuter rail as opposed to more highways. Highways are the complete anthesis to dense, walkable life.

That's not Texas's problem. Highways and interstates are great pieces of infrastructure. The problem is that Texas puts access roads next to everything, and lines it up with everyday stores in strip malls. People use highways as any road for simple errands. Many access roads have discontinuities because a railroad or a private property cuts it off, so people literally will enter a highway and within 500 feet exit. It creates all sorts of unnecessary traffic and general risk of death. Texas needs proper roads and shopping centers.

You can drive from Dallas to San Antonio on I-35 and wonder why Texas has so much stuff. Where are the open, empty lands? Anywhere a few miles from I-35.
 

cajunator

Banned
Louisiana has a ton less people but the roads are a million times less complicated too. I hardly ever go to Texas, and now I remember why.
 
Louisiana has a ton less people but the roads are a million times less complicated too. I hardly ever go to Texas, and now I remember why.

I hate frontage roads. The entire concept was completely foreign to me, and I was so incredibly confused by them the first time I drove in Texas.
 

cajunator

Banned
I hate frontage roads. The entire concept was completely foreign to me, and I was so incredibly confused by them the first time I drove in Texas.

We have them too, but like I said they are a billion times less complicated here because much less people and much simpler infrastructure. Theres probably more highway and roadway in one single Texas city than in ALL of Louisiana combined. Its pretty fucking ridiculous. Even in New Orleans the highway structure is much much simpler to navigate.
 

Branduil

Member
The biggest problem with Texas highways is that the drivers here are idiots. No matter how wide you make the freeway, the slowest drivers are still going to spread themselves across the entire width and make it impossible to pass because they don't understand or care about basic driving courtesy.
 
The biggest problem with Texas highways is that the drivers here are idiots. No matter how wide you make the freeway, the slowest drivers are still going to spread themselves across the entire width and make it impossible to pass because they don't understand or care about basic driving courtesy.

There HAS to be some sort of conspiracy between a group of jerks to take up all three lanes on I-45, going through Houston downtown, and drive as slowly as possible everyday at noon.

I say this because it seems like traffic stacks up there for no conceivable reason, then clears up past a certain point.
 
The biggest problem with Texas highways is that the drivers here are idiots. No matter how wide you make the freeway, the slowest drivers are still going to spread themselves across the entire width and make it impossible to pass because they don't understand or care about basic driving courtesy.

Yet another example of why trains are a better way to commute to work. Dumb asses who can't drive properly aren't able to slow down a train.
 
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