No road to paradise

It might just be my perception, but I swear that the state has been working on I-35 between Belton and Waco since my college days in the 1970’s.

It reminds me of the on-going construction on I-45 in Houston heading toward Galveston. That project was at least thirty years on-going, as well.

And why is it that every time the State of Texas Highway department decides to build an overpass from one busy road to another, they manage to make it only one lane wide?  Is it for job security, knowing that in a few short years they are going to have to come back and do it all over?  And it is not just in Texas.

In California, along the 405 – arguably one of the busiest freeways in North America – the exit to LAX, arguably one of the busiest airports in North America, the exit ramp is but one lane wide.

Originally Woodall Rogers ramp heading north onto U.S. 75 was but a lane. Then they “painted” another lane into existence. Reminds me of Wertheimer in Houston. The city said it needed widening, so what did they do?  Took up the lane stripes, and placed them back down in far more narrow lanes creating enough room for a new lane. Brilliant. And most cost effective.

But one lane for a freeway to freeway exchange?

Really?

The other day the news reporters were warning Dallas traffic that the High Five overpass connecting U.S. 75 to LBJ Freeway (I-635) was going to be closed down to one lane. So?  It’s actually only one lane as it stands now. To be sure, two cars can go up the ramp a certain distance, but it closes down to one lane before merging. So where is the problem? We’ve been stuck with one-lane access since the highway as constructed.

If we are going to rely on highways in the future for our transportation corridors (and it appears that we are…) we need them to be thought through a whole lot more. And it would also be nice if every road in Texas wasn’t a toll road.  Tell us, Governor Perry – where did all the highway funds go? Funny, the state can invest in a Formula One race track in Austin, but in Dallas we’ve got to pay a toll to travel faster than 35 mph on our freeways.