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North Tarrant Express Segment 3A

The Fort Worth District is currently planning improvements for I-35W from Spur 280 (Downtown Fort Worth) to Meacham Blvd (I-820 Interchange) in Tarrant County. The existing freeway includes two to three general purpose lanes each direction. Preliminary planning indicates that four general purpose lanes in each direction, along with two managed lanes in each direction in the median are warranted for future traffic volumes. The managed lane facility will allow longer trips to have predictable travel times through the corridor, as it connects to other planned managed lane facilities both along I-35W to the north to SH 114, and also along I- 820/SH 183 to the east to SH 161.

A managed lane facility is one that increases freeway efficiency by packaging various operational and design actions. Lane management operations may be adjusted at any time to better match regional goals. This includes evaluating opportunities for congestion management through a combination of three variables: hours of operation, auto occupancy, and value/toll pricing. In addition, further studies will evaluate if additional managed/toll lanes within the system could generate revenues to accelerate construction of this project.

The proposed number of general purpose lanes and managed lane access locations throughout the corridor are currently being refined through preliminary design efforts. The study includes the preparation of a preliminary geometric layout and environmental assessment that will depict the proposed improvements in detail. Initial design layouts are complete and public meetings were held on October 5, 2006 and April 3, 2007. Ongoing agency coordination efforts are facilitated through a Project Coordination Workgroup (PCW), as well as continuous public participation through a Stakeholder's Group (SG).

After the environmental document and preliminary geometric layout are further refined, they will be reviewed by TxDOT and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Once approval for further processing is received from the FHWA, a Public Hearing will be scheduled. If any further information about the project is desired, please contact Matthew Asaolu, P.E. at (817) 370-6852.