Loop 9 in Texas

 

Walk 9
Get started Midlothian
End Mesquite
Length 72 km
Route
  • Midlothian
  • Lancaster
  • ferris
  • Seagoville
  • Mesquite

According to a2zdirectory, Loop 9 is a planned loop around Dallas, Texas. The highway is to form a southern ring road around the city of Dallas, in anticipation of the rapid population growth, which now mainly takes place north of the city, but will also take place on the south side of the city in the future. The road should run from US 287 at Midlothian south of Lancaster, then veer off onto Interstate 20 at Mesquite. The President George Bush Turnpike will therefore be extended to the south, creating a three-quarter ring around Dallas. The length of the Loop 9 is about 72 kilometers. Together with the PGBT, the three-quarter ring will be approximately 160 kilometers long.

Route

The route should begin west of Midlothian at US 287 and then run east, intersecting several Dallas radial highways, counterclockwise on US 67, Interstate 35E, Interstate 45, US 175 and Interstate 20. The road will be built on a Right-of-Way of 450-600 feet (135-180 meters).

History

First plans

According to allpubliclibraries.com, in 1957 the first idea for an outer ring came in the Thoroughfare Master Plan of Dallas. The “Outer Loop” was envisioned at that time as a major highway, but not as a highway. The first attempts to establish a route date back to 1959, and in January 1960, the then-new town of Richardson reserved a 140-foot wide right-of-way along Campbell Road. In the early 1960s, a larger study was conducted of an outer ring of Dallas, and in early 1964 it was determined that the ring road was a freeway.had to be with a right-of-way of 300 feet (100 meters) wide. The route would run along the borders of Dallas County. In 1964, Dallas County voted to issue bonds for the construction of the highway, but it did not reach the required two-thirds vote. If approved, the highway would probably have been built at a rapid pace, but things were completely different.

Setback

In the late 1960s it became clear that the Dallas area needed new freeways on a large scale, but the finances were lacking to purchase a meaningful route. In August 1968, the Dallas Outer Loop was officially incorporated into the State Highway system. In 1969, bond issuance was approved to purchase a right-of-way worth $5.8 million, far less than the $94 million needed at the time. In May 1969, the number Loop 9 was assigned to the outer ring by TxDOT. In the early 1970s, discussions arose as to whether Loop 9 should still be built within Dallas County due to high land prices, and whether a route through Collin County would not make more sense. This was partly also NIMBYbehavior of municipalities in Dallas County. In April 1971, a route was established for the west ring in Grand Prairie between I-20 and Carrollton. This would eventually become the longest legal battle over a highway in Texas. In 1975 TxDOT went into a financial crisis due to lack of money and inflation of building costs, which were rising rapidly, and in 1976 it was decided to stop buying land for the Loop 9.

President George Bush Turnpike

The Loop 9 wasn’t dead though, in the late 1970’s TxDOT was getting multibillion-dollar injections to build much-needed new highways. Land developers even donated money to facilitate the construction of the highway, as highways rapidly increased property values ​​in surrounding areas, since in Dallas, virtually all commercial activity is located near freeways. In the late 1970s, land prices north of Dallas also rose rapidly due to the region’s stormy population growth. At the end of the 1980s, the route of the northern Loop 9 was determined, and construction was able to start with much delay. This eventually became the President George Bush Turnpike, which opened between 1998 and 2012.

Future

The DEIS (Draft Environmental Impact Statement) (draft EIA) was completed between 2007 and 2009. It was planned to build the highway between 2013 and 2015, but has been postponed indefinitely due to the recession and a shortage of funds. As of 2016, billions of dollars in oil revenues were earmarked on Texas roads, with Loop 9 a candidate for funding, possibly as a toll-free route.

In June 2017, the draft EIS was established for the first phase of frontage roads between I-35E and I-45 south of Dallas, resulting in a FONSI on April 17, 2018. This section is 10 miles long. In various phases and when the traffic demands it, the frontage road will then become part of a freeway along the south side of Dallas. The frontage road will be constructed in such a way that it can later become a one-way frontage road, with space reserved in the central reservation for the construction of the later freeway.

In June 2019, exploration began for a 15-mile stretch south of Dallas, between I-35E and US 67 with 2×3 lanes.

One vision is to extend the ring even further west, to I-20 at Weatherford. This would add another 70 to 75 kilometers to the length of the ring. Together with the extension of the PGBT, the three-quarter ring will then be 230 kilometers long and connect with the Chisholm Trail Parkway to Fort Worth.

Toll

The road is likely to be constructed as a 2×3 lane toll road. The toll collection in the region is fully electronic.

Loop 9 in Texas

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