NTTA To Limit Lane And Road Closures Until New Year
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Construction on the Dallas North Tollway has often tested even the most patient drivers.
"It's pretty bad, it's pretty awful. I brave it every day," said Savannah Cotran, who was delayed getting to her hair appointment Monday at the Serenity Salon and Spa in Plano. "I was late. I had to call them and tell them I was stuck in traffic and I was going to be late. I asked them if I needed to re-schedule."
The manager at the salon and spa, Sheila Humphrey, said during the past several months, the traffic has slowed business by 30 percent. "We have clients who are extremely late, sometimes up to 45 minutes because of the traffic and in a lot of occasions, they have to cancel their appointments."
To help businesses and their customers during the Christmas shopping season, the North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) will limit lane and road closures on the tollway during the weekday and weekends from later this week through after the New Year. But construction will ramp up again after January 1st.
Additionally, crews will postpone work on the Tennyson overpass, which requires the tollway being shut down, until January.
Spokesman for the NTTA, Michael Rey said, "We don't want any major closures like this, nothing that impacts who are our partners. These are folks who've invested in being near the tollway not to try to reward them."
That pleases Humphrey. "I'm really grateful they're doing that because I think for all of us, it's just been really difficult to get on and off the tollway here."
"Hopefully, it will help out with all the additional people on the road during the holidays," said Savannah Cotran.
Work will continue for more than a year with the possibility of substantial completion by early 2018.
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