The Texas Department of Transportation has announced plans to widen a 12-mile section of I-30 from Bass Pro Drive in Garland to Ferguson Road in East Dallas.
The announcement was made at a public and virtual meeting held on Thursday at the Mesquite Arts Center at 1527 N. Galloway Avenue in Mesquite, per NBC 5 DFW. Although the in-person meeting has concluded, community members are still welcome to view the project information and voice their opinions of the plans on the Keep It Moving Dallas website.
A spokesperson for TxDOT said the plans are preliminary, and input from the public is welcomed. The deadline for submitting comments is May 12.
“We’ve got a very preliminary plan and we’re taking it to the public tonight to show them our thoughts on it and get their thoughts on it, and we want to make sure that with the investment we’re putting into this corridor that it’s meeting as many needs as possible,” said Kenna Mitchell, per NBC 5.
The Keep It Moving Dallas website says, “The purpose of the proposed project is to improve mobility in the corridor by adding capacity to alleviate congestion, improve operations to reduce existing bottlenecks, enhance mobility options by including bicycle and pedestrian accommodations, and to enhance safety of the corridor by upgrading the facility to meet current design standards.”
Motorists, including Breana Chappell, were given the opportunity to voice their opinions regarding the interstate during the April 27 meeting.
“You’re trying to get home and you’re sitting in traffic for two hours and you’re five minutes from home, so yeah, it gets pretty bad,” said Campbell, per Head Topics.
Another driver, Dez Moncurley, said he supports widening the interstate to help with congestion.
“Make it wider so you could have one side going and one side coming back this way,” said Moncurley, per Head Topics.
The plans are expected to receive environmental approval in the fall of 2024, and, following necessary preliminary work, construction could begin in the summer of 2027. In total, the construction is estimated to cost taxpayers $662.9 million, per Keep It Moving Dallas.
