New Money Approved For LBJ East Expansion, Timing Still Issue

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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Carter Raine says the drive to work can get very frustrating when traffic on LBJ Freeway in Mesquite and Garland slows him down. "It can get pretty bad. I've had to slam on the brakes and get out of the way a lot of times."

When that happens, he's usually prepared to go another way. "I'll go down and I'll take Northwest Highway street and come back all the way around, really only takes me five more minutes instead of sitting in traffic another 15."

The Texas Transportation Commission recently approved about $438 million in sales tax money approved by statewide voters to go toward widening LBJ from Miller Road south to I-30.

That's a small fraction of the $1.6 to $1.7 billion the project will cost.

The portion of LBJ Freeway from Miller Road north to Central Expressway will cost nearly $500 million alone with most of that money identified. Much of it will come from tolled lanes.

But more than $860 million dollars is still needed for the project.

Tony Hartzel, a TXDOT spokesman says, "635 East is one of the most congested corridors we have right now, so it's a priority for us."

Under the plan, the freeway would expand from ten to 14 lanes - most of them non-tolled - and include continuous frontage roads.

But it would still take another nine to ten years to complete - and Garland's Mayor Douglas Athas says that's the best case scenario. "If everything goes well, yes, but if things don't go well, it could be even longer."

Mayor Athas says a bill working its way through the legislature is key to the earlier date.

If the bill is not passed this year, he says it will lead to delays.

Athas says if the legislation passes, widening the interchange between LBJ Freeway and I-30 would be sped up as well.

As for Carter Raine, he says, "I have little siblings and who are coming up, it might be easier for them to get around and safer, so I'm all for that."