This subsection discusses frontage roads and includes information on the following topics:

Frontage roads separate local traffic from the higher speed freeway traffic and provide access to properties along the freeway corridor. Frontage roads serve numerous functions, depending on the context of the freeway they serve and the features of the surrounding area.

They may be used to control access to the freeway, function as a facility serving adjacent properties, and maintain circulation of traffic on each side of the freeway. They can also provide invaluable operational flexibility, serving as detour routes during mainlane crashes, mainlane maintenance activity, inclement weather, and for over-height loads and buses. Continuous frontage roads provide the operational flexibility required to manage saturation on freeways that include freeway surveillance and control.

In addition to these functions, frontage roads can prove advantageous when used as the first stage of construction for a future freeway facility. By constructing frontage roads prior to the mainlanes, interim traffic demands can often be satisfied, and a usable section of highway can be opened to the traveling public at a greatly reduced cost.

Frontage roads may be incorporated into a project at various points during project development, including the planning stage, subsequent to the planning stage, or after freeway construction. However, later incorporation of frontage roads will be more difficult.

A Frontage Road Briefing Document (FRBD)

must be developed, providing justification, and is approved by the District and then is submitted to Design Division prior to implementation of a new location frontage road (where no frontage road currently exists). An FRBD is also required when:

Frontage road construction may be funded by TxDOT, a local government, or shared by both. The Texas Transportation Commission has adopted rules governing the construction and funding of frontage roads.

All frontage road development must be in accordance with the rules contained in . Refer to the for additional information.

Changes in control of access must be in accordance with .

Although techniques to estimate capacity and level of service on freeways and urban arterials are detailed in the , these procedures should not be applied directly to frontage roads, as frontage roads have characteristic of both freeways (i.e., exit and entrance ramps) and urban arterials (i.e., driveways, cross streets, and signalized intersections).

The following report was developed to suggest techniques for estimating capacity and level of service on frontage roads:

Additional information can be found in TTI , which contains procedures for the following:

Frontage roads are classified as collectors

and should be designed to match the values for a collector street or highway. See for additional information.

Any new frontage road

must be designed and constructed for one-way operation

unless prior approval from Design Division is obtained. There may be exceptions in certain isolated locations, where a one-way pattern would impose severe restrictions on circulation within an area. These exceptions must be approved by the Design Division during schematic design.

In some areas, existing frontage roads are operating as two-way facilities. Such two-way operation has the following disadvantages:

Existing two-way frontage roads should be converted to one-way operation when one or more of the following conditions exist:

Conversion of two-way frontage roads in urbanizing rural areas, with crossover interchanges spaced more than two miles apart, require consideration of additional crossover interchanges to minimize the distance traveled for adjacent residents and business patrons. Existing local street systems in the area should facilitate traffic circulation and minimize the travel time impact of converting frontage roads from two-way to one-way operation.

The conversion of two-way to one-way frontage roads should be accomplished with ramp and terminal design based on reconstruction criteria shown in . For existing frontage road lanes may retain dimensions that meet minimum criteria, see and .

Two-way frontage roads should only be considered in rural areas where: