The man who has become known as Dallas-Fort Worth’s “King of the Roads” has announced plans to retire.
Michael Morris is an unelected staff member at the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), a lesser-known organization that affects residents’ daily lives. After serving as NCTCOG’s transportation director for 35 years, he is now planning to retire.
Since Morris first joined the agency as a staff member in 1979, he has earned nicknames such as the “King of Gridlock,” “King of the Roads,” and “King of DFW Politics,” which reflect the considerable power he has wielded behind the scenes for decades.
He has long referred to himself as a “marriage counselor” in conflicts between agencies like Dallas Area Rapid Transit and local governments.
But soon he will begin transitioning to “director emeritus,” according to the December 11 meeting agenda for NCTCOG’s Regional Transportation Council.
“I’m going to transition away from director,” said Morris at the meeting. “I am here until a new director arrives; I’ll be moved to a professional services agreement.”
“I’m here as an insurance policy,” he added.
During the meeting, Morris asked the council to fund a professional agreement for up to three years to continue funding his position and some part-time work, ensuring a smooth transition for the new director.
Morris pledged to stay on board to plan for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Dallas.
NCTCOG will narrow down a handful of applicants – including current staff members – to fill Morris’ position. “I will stay until replaced, and the RTC will be involved in the selection process,” Morris said.
The Dallas Express reached out to Morris and NCTCOG for comment on this latest announcement, but did not hear back.
However, when The Dallas Express asked Morris in August if he had any retirement plans, he denied such rumors, noting that the reporter was “the only person that’s ever asked me.”
“I have not explored retirement,” he said at the time to DX. “It’s a conversation I have with my family and my medical doctor every year when I have my annual physical.”
In August, when these comments were made, Morris said he was “laser focused” on the next year, with North Texas’ largest events ever, such as the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
“I’m not walking away from helping the region implement the most important set of special event projects we’ve ever had,” Morris said at the time.
The ‘Marriage Counselor’
Morris has self-admittedly been known as a “marriage counselor” between DART and its member cities.
Four member cities – Farmers Branch, Highland Park, Irving, and Plano – voted in November to hold withdrawal elections on May 2, 2026, as The Dallas Express previously reported. Addison rejected one such bid on December 2.
These withdrawal considerations follow months of growing frustration among DART’s member cities, with mayors citing concerns about funding, governance, homelessness, and crime.
Earlier this year, suburban mayors backed legislation to restructure DART governance and to allow cities to divert up to 25% of their sales-tax contributions.
DART warned such measures could lead to “the largest service cuts” in its history. As such, the agency offered a “General Mobility Plan” earlier this year, allowing member cities to recapture 5% of their contributions.
After mayors continued to push legislation, then-DART Board Chair Gary Slagel wrote them on July 17 – asking them to drop reforms in exchange for GMP funding, as The Dallas Express exclusively reported.
“We ask each of the seven donor cities… to formally adopt a city council resolution… and committing to cease further efforts or actions for legislation that would reduce or divert any portion of DART’s voter-approved one-cent sales tax,” Slagel wrote at the time. “We ask you to clarify your position on receiving the GMP by committing not to pursue any further legislation against DART.”
The Dallas Express exclusively reported that Morris had previously written Slagel on June 3, declining to ask the RTC for more DART funding because the cities were still pushing legislation.
Despite the similarity to Slagel’s later letter, Morris told The Dallas Express at the time that his letter merely reflected the RTC’s emphasis on local negotiations.
“The RTC has requested on two occasions that the issue be resolved through mediation,” Morris told DX at the time. “I could make the case to go to the RTC and ask to help pay for it if the parties operated in good faith and mediated the issue, as the RTC requested.”
Morris stressed that cities or DART could still approach the RTC directly for funding, but as staff, he would not make the request unless parties first honored mediation.
A Broader Legacy
Morris’ influence reaches far beyond recent DART controversies.
Morris previously told The Dallas Express he hopes he and his team at NCTCOG have a reputation for “getting things done,” citing major projects under his leadership and the RTC’s focus on outcomes.
NCTCOG is a metropolitan planning organization, essentially a shadow government, that pulls the purse strings for billions in federal transportation funding across North Texas. It chooses its own board members — some elected officials, some appointed bureaucrats — and operates without direct voter accountability.
During his time with the agency, Morris has advocated for DART, TexRail, and a proposed high-speed rail line connecting Dallas, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio, which has not broken ground for years, amid resistance from private property owners, as The Dallas Express reported.
As far back as 2007, Morris intervened as a “facilitator” between the Texas Department of Transportation and the North Texas Tollway Authority in a bitter funding dispute over $3.5 to $4 billion, according to the Dallas Observer.
One of Morris’ longest-running crusades was the failed Trinity Parkway toll road, which ultimately died in 2017. In an internal memo, he offered “10 Reasons to Build the Trinity Parkway,” saying the tollway was essential to delivering $5 billion in projects — including the massive Mixmaster.
Yet, most of those projects proceeded “just fine without the tollway,” as D Magazine would later report. Officials found that the tollway would have shifted traffic problems rather than solving them.
Then, in 2014, when residents expressed support for tearing down the dilapidated stretch of I-345 downtown, which still poses issues today, Morris dismissed the concerns as racially motivated.
“They were all white, they were very wealthy, and I don’t think any of them live in the neighborhood,” Morris said, per The Dallas Morning News.
In 2019, D Magazine labeled Morris one of the “Kings of Dallas Sprawl.”
During the recent December 11 meeting, Arlington Democrat Mayor Jim Ross expressed concern about delays in announcing Morris’ departure to the RTC.
“I struggle with the body that is responsible for the policymaking procedures, getting word of the director of transportation’s ultimate transitioning out of here through the grapevine with zero communication,” Ross said. “We all have to sort of figure out what the hell is going on, there’s some really piss poor communicating.”
The Dallas Express unearthed a 2018 video earlier this year, showing Ross using profane language against a Christian street preacher at an LGBT pride event.
Despite the continued public criticism surrounding Ross, he thanked Morris for his years of service.
“I can’t tell you how appreciative we are of your decades and decades – I hate to make you sound really old – but your decades and decades of service,” Ross said. “You sometimes tell us stuff that we love hearing, and sometimes tell us stuff that I don’t want to hear at all. But you’re candid, you’re honest, and I appreciate everything you’ve done.”
