State highway department planners revealed plans for the Interstate 30 segment from Ferguson Road in East Dallas to Bass Pro Drive in Garland in a public and virtual meeting Thursday evening.
The Texas Department of Transportation meeting will be held at the Mesquite Arts Center at 1527 N. Galloway Avenue in Mesquite for those who wish to see the plans, hear from state officials and share comments in person.
It will be available online here.
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The online meeting materials will be available through May 12 for public comment.
“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,” TxDOT spokesperson Kenna Mitchell said.
The estimated cost for the improvements is $622 million.
Drivers said the current roadway road gives them plenty of headaches.
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“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,” driver Breana Chappell said.
The segment east of Ferguson has no feeder roads beside the main freeway lanes. So, accidents cause big delays with no parallel alternative path.
“Certainly, reducing congestion is a very big part of this, and improving safety as well,” Mitchell said. “We’re looking at not only doing improvements to the highway lanes but also in constructing continuous frontage roads, that would have shared use paths for bicycles and pedestrians.”
The 12-mile segment currently includes a reversible express lane with a zipper barrier moved back and forth to change the direction of travel.
Driver Dez Moncurley said he hopes the state plan improves that situation.
“Make it wider so you could have one side going and one side coming back this way,” he said.
A construction project is already underway for new ramps to Interstate 635 that crosse over I-30. A new and wider bridge over Lake Ray Hubbard to the east of this segment is also under construction. Separate plans for the I-30 segment west of Ferguson Road are soon to be released, Mitchell said.
