DALLAS — If you look at a map, the President George Bush Turnpike resembles an incomplete rainbow over the eastern half of North Texas.
Now, the North Texas Tollway Authority is tasked with considering what it would take to complete that rainbow and add an east branch of the tollway from I-30 near Lake Ray Hubbard south to I-20 close to Balch Springs.
“All the way around Dallas County out near the airport then back down to I-20 in the Arlington, Grand Prairie region so it would become quite a connector. Be patient with us. We’ll see how it goes,” Michael Rey, media relations director from NTTA, said.
The proximity to cities like Garland, Heath, Sunnyvale, Forney and Mesquite could be a game changer when it comes to travel. It would connect some of the fastest-growing communities in North Texas as well.
Rey emphasized that this would be a long-term project.
“Even if we go forward, the environmental process will likely take us through 2026. Then, we’d go into design and that could take up to four years. So, we’re talking 2030. Then, construction after that could be anywhere from four to seven years. I don’t know where you plan to be in 2037. I’m not sure I’ll be on the road but, good Lord willing, we’ll get to drive it here next decade," he said.
This expansion has been years, no decades, in the making.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) began to study this area in 1969 as part of the Dallas County Outer Loop Project. Now, some 55 years later, residents can weigh in and help shape the future of a big infrastructure project.
If you want to weigh in, NTTA is hosting a public scoping meeting on Tuesday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Mesquite Convention Center. There will be project information available for review and comment. More opportunities to share your feedback will be available early next year.
You can learn more about the PGBT East Branch online here.