The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is recommending changes for the elevated highway connecting the Central Expressway to I-30, reports CBS.
The TxDOT made these recommendations for the 1.5-mile-long highway to the council after years of studying the future of the highway.
The new highway could cost more than $1 billion, but funding has not been approved yet. The TxDOT is hoping for approval from the Dallas City Council and other city leaders, who could choose to accept the proposal from TxDOT or make changes.
One major change being proposed is that the elevated highway should no longer be elevated. Instead, it would actually be relocated below city streets. It would have the same number of lanes as it does currently with a capacity of more than 180,000 vehicles.
The proposal for I-345 would be very similar to the Central Expressway in Dallas with a highway that is below ground level and city streets running up above it.
“It is kind of the best of both worlds where we’re maintaining that traffic, three lanes in each direction and in keeping the city streets network active and open and also just re-knitting the community on both sides of the highway,” Tony Hartzel, director for the Northeast Texas Communications for TxDOT, told CBS, explaining that by eliminating the highway, it would increase travel time between 40% and 50%.
But under the TxDOT’s recommendations, there would actually be a slight increase in travel time for commuters during the morning and afternoon. There would be no entrance or exit ramps according to the TxDOT’s recommendations. However, there would be a new access point for I-30 between I-35 E and I-45 in the downtown Dallas “canyon.”
TxDOT also suggested the city build a deck park over I-345 in the vein of the one at Klyde Warren Park or allow for building developments.
