Widening 35

A significant issue on the minds of North Texans is the congestion on 35E. All the way from Duncanville to north of Denton there are traffic jams and delays. In our particular neck of the woods we have a particularly nice spot, near Corinth Parkway, that tends to be jammed up most evenings, and often in the morning hours. Many would say that this is due to a lack of capacity on the two lanes northbound from Corinth Parkway. Others, me included, would say that it is the reduction from three lanes to two lanes that is major culprit. Either way it seems logical to want to increase the capacity on 35E in some fashion.


Preferring simple solutions, I would think that adding a third lane on both sides of 35E from Corinth Pkwy to somewhere north of the North side of loop 288, near FM 1173, would be a great solution. I base this on my having lived my whole life in the I35E corridor and enduring the agony of at least 2 major reconstructions/enlargements. Back in the late 70's and early 80's 35 E was two lanes per side from south of the current day Vista Ridge mall on northward. The first expansion was to increase that segment from the then under construction (or recently constructed) Vista Ridge Mall to the north shore of lake Lewisville. It wasn't done all at once, and the construction created nightmare traffic. Eventually it was done.

Traffic congestion reduced wonderfully, right up to the north shore of Lake Lewisville, where the nightmare resumed on any evening going north. Back then Denton, Corinth, and the rest of the Lake Cities were much smaller. Of course, with traffic better further north, much new construction boomed, and the nightmare at lake lewisville reached epic proportions, so much so that on the really bad nights, the FM 407 (Justin Road) exit was heavily impacted by the backup - you couldn't get to it unless you exited early, back around the railroad bridge. I remember swearing to myself that I would never buy a house "north of the Bridge".

So obviously I did buy that house north of the brige. Why? Well, in the next expansion of 35E, the reduction from three lanes to two lanes moved from the north shore of LaKe Lewisville all the way to Corinth Parkway. Suddenly traffic could move in the lake cities, I am sure to the relief of many. An move it did, right up to the choke point today at Corinth Parkway. My point is that the lane reduction point is the source of much congestion. So, it makes sense to move that point past the major traffic volume, hence, north of North Loop 288.

A reduction like that has to be at a point where the remaining traffic volume on the two lanes is much less than the capacity at that point, otherwise you get a jam up primarily due to the fact that people will be people, and so traffic cannot flow optimally since people will cut each other off and cause problems to get where they are going 1 whole second faster.

So, while theoretically as long as the volume on the 3 lanes is only 67% of capacity, they should merge just fine into two lanes - it doesn't happen in practice. And, honestly, I believe that the volume on the two lanes north of Corinth Parkway is probably near capacity at peak travel hours, and in fact the volume on the three lanes leading to that point is well past 50% - well, we know we have a problem there. Just drive it after 5 PM in the evening. It makes sense then to move that choke point north of the major traffic volume - north of Denton.

So why all this discussion? Because TxDOT is currently planning a behemoth 12 total highway lanes, 6 each direction, with 4 free and 2 toll in each direction, from 635 to 380, at a currently proposed cost of $4.4 Billion. Yes, Billion with a 'B'. If you include the access road lanes, you actually have 18 total lanes (same cost).

Now, no one has $4.4 billion to build the highway. So, TxDOT has come up with the public/private partnership and toll lanes as a way to fund the project (more on the public private partnership later - but it is a key point). Basically, private businesses and investors will fund the building for a return on investment which comes from the toll portion. My key question is this - if you can build what amounts to 504 lane-miles of roadway for $4.4 billion, you should be able to build 11.6 miles of 6 lane road way (assuming access roads are left as is) for about 608 million. According to information I have seen (public records), we (Denton county) has about 600 million in funding to provide to the expansion project. That is almost enough for the lesser project without any toll roads, without the public/private partnership.

So why then the huge monstrosity? One possible answer (and I don't claim to be an oracle on this), is that by the time it gets built, traffic will be increasing at a phenomonal rate due to growth in and around the corridor.

Next time, what I understand about the public/private partnership solution and what it means to us.