FORNEY, Texas — The Texas Department of Transportation held a public meeting Tuesday night to allow public comment and review of the proposed U.S. Highway 80 expansion project.
FORNEY, Texas — The Texas Department of Transportation held a public meeting Tuesday night to allow public comment and review of the proposed U.S. Highway 80 expansion project.
The proposed project spans 11.2 miles from Interstate 30 in Dallas County to Farm-to-Market (FM) 460 in Kaufman County near the western city limits of Forney.
The projected $740 million project would widen U.S. Highway 80 form a four-lane highway to a six-lane highway with the construction of continuous frontage roads throughout the project.
The project, however, isn't expected to begin until 2022 and, depending on available funding, may be completed in separate segments.
Traffic on the U.S. Highway 80 section between FM 460 and IH 635 is expected to increase by 141 percent by 2040 and 67 percent for the remaining portion of the highway to Interstate 30.
The project is currently in the preliminary design and schematic phase and will still need to undergo several steps before construction begins including environmental studies, final design, right-of-way acquisition, and additional public review.
TxDOT and its consultants were on hand to answer questions of the public.
A TxDOT representative, speaking with inForney.com, says a portion of the project in Kaufman County will be a priority once funding becomes available. That priority, he says, is the construction of continuous frontage roads from Kaufman County, over the East Fork Trinity River, and into Dallas County — providing a continuous two-lane frontage road throughout the project.
This frontage road continuation would be the biggest impact for Kaufman-to-Dallas County commuters.
The U.S. Highway 80 interchange with IH-635 in Mesquite is also considered a priority.
The eastern most portion of the plan proposes to reconstruct the FM 460 bridge with four crossover lanes and two u-turn lanes.
U.S. Highway 80 will expand to six lanes just west of FM 460. Westbound traffic will gain an additional lane of traffic with the reconstruction of the FM 460 ramp to westbound U.S. Highway 80. Eastbound traffic will lose its third lane with an exit-only at the newly constructed Broad Street exit which is currently under construction with the ramp relocation project.
The FM 460 westbound ramp will be relocated just west of its current location in the curve and will instead enter at a straight portion of the highway.
TxDOT representatives say the frontage road bridges across the East Fork Trinity River would likely be constructed before the highway bridges are demolished and reconstructed to allow traffic diversion onto the frontage roads.
The plan proposes building a highway overpass at Lawson Road to allow Lawson Road to connect with the north frontage road. Just west of Lawson Road is where the proposed East Branch of State Highway 190 is expected to intersect U.S. Highway 80.
The current East Fork bridge is proposed to be demolished and a highway overpass will be construction just west of the old bridge at East Fork Road. East Fork Road will travel under the highway to the south frontage road.
Other plans include replacement or reconstruct of the U.S. Highway 80 and IH 635 bridges as well as the redesign of the surrounding entrance and exit ramps to minimize merging traffic in the busy intersection. The plans will minimize eastbound traffic at Gross Road as well as southbound IH 635-to-U.S. Highway 80 merging traffic.
In Mesquite, the plans propose to reconstruct the current interchanges at Gus Thomasson, Big Town Boulevard, and Towne Centre, among others, which may have a positive impact on local development or revitalization.
The proposed speed limit within the project limits is 60 miles per hour.
The proposed schematics are expected to be 90 percent complete by April 2017 with environment studies complete by October 2017, schematic approval in December 2017, additional public hearings in the spring and summer of 2018, and anticipated environmental clearance in the fall of 2018.
If the proper funding is acquired, construction is expected to begin in the fall of 2022.
The plans and timelines may change, according to TxDOT representatives, as the project moves through additional public comment and design phases.
The maps which were presented during the public meeting will be available for review at the TxDOT Dallas District Office located at 4777 E. Highway 80, TxDOT Kaufman Area Office located at 2750 S. Washington, Forney City Hall located at 101 East Main Street, Mesquite City Hall located at 757 N. Galloway Avenue, and Sunnyvale Town Hall located at 127 N. Collins Road.